Double Identity (2008/aka Fake Identity/First Look DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: C-

 

 

I like Val Kilmer.  When people say he has been difficult, it has usually been in the service of trying to get something done well.  It is too bad a recent appearance on the hit TV show Numb3rs did not become a regular role for him, but the long line of projects that have gone right to DVD.  Even in them, he is giving his best efforts, but that was not enough save Dennis Dimster’s formulaic Double Identity (2008) from falling into a clichéd thriller rut.

 

Kilmer plays Dr. Nicholas Pinter, part of the Doctors Beyond Borders organization, but he gets caught up in a Russian Mob fiasco.  Before things get worse, they get confusing when the British Secret Service gets involved and in the middle is the beautiful Katrine (Izabella Miko of Flakes and the Clash Of The Titans remake) and they run off together.  Of course, everyone is out to find them.

 

Dimster co-wrote the screenplay with Ziva Dimbort and though they seem to be trying to make this work, they do not seem to know where to go with this.  That is a shame, because they have got good leads and decent supporting actors.  Locations are not bad either.  It is just we have seen this all before and if Eastern Europe did not work for Kilmer in The Saint (and it did not), it was not going to work here.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 is much softer and Video Black poor than I would have liked or expected, even though some of this is from stylizing the image down.  That was a mistake in the long run, adding visual clichés into the mix and hurting the location shoot.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is better, yet does not have a great soundfield and dialogue recording can be weak and even distorted at times.  There are some previews for other First Look titles, but no real extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo