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What do you get when you pair Johnny
Depp’s versatile acting abilities with one of Stephen King’s spine-shattering thrillers?
You get a movie that will keep you nailed to your seat from beginning to
twisted end.
Aside from his dazzling looks, Johnny Depp’s character in
this movie is nothing like the womanizer Captain Jack Sparrow,
whom we recently came to love and hate. If you’re a huge Depp fan, this movie is for you.
As Depp portrays a fairly reclusive writer living in no-man’s-land, a lot of the scenes
involve close-ups of Depp’s rugged but nonetheless sexy look. If, on the other hand,
you’re mainly interested in a fantastic psychological thriller that makes you want to go
back and watch it again, you’ll still find just what you’re looking for.
Depp plays Mort Rainey—a writer living in the woods while awaiting the
finalizing of his divorce from his wife, Amy (Maria Bello). She’s living in their former
marital home, and her boyfriend, Ted (Timothy Hutton), is anxiously waiting for Mort to
sign the papers and forever remove himself from Amy’s life.
Mort suddenly
finds himself faced with every writer’s nightmare: he’s accused of plagiarism. A man
called John Shooter (John Turturro) appears at Mort’s door, and he’s not shy about
demanding that Mort set the record straight about a story called “The Secret Window.”
Mort insists that he wrote and published the story years before Shooter claims to have
written his story—which is a word-for-word replica of Mort’s version. Shooter wants Mort
to rewrite the ending, get it republished, and give full credit to Shooter for the
story.
When Shooter quickly emphasizes his seriousness about his demands
with thrilling acts of violence, Mort goes to the police. Unfortunately, the only witness
who saw Shooter and Rainey together claims not to have seen them. So Rainey hires P.I.
Ken Karsch (Charles S. Dutton), who’s unconcerned about Rainey’s safety—and whose
discoveries aren’t exactly what Rainey is hoping for.
Secret Window
also has a twist in the end—one that won’t disappoint Stephen King fans.
Writer/director David Koepp did an excellent job with special effects in
order to keep even “calm” segments of the movie thrilling enough that a weak movie
watcher might want to keep their eyes covered, spreading their fingers apart just enough
to catch a glimpse of the action.
Johnny Depp is the perfect actor for
the part of Mort Rainey. He’s extremely convincing in his part as the writer whose
integrity is attacked. He also leaves no doubt that the twisted ending is perfect for
Mort Rainey.
I give this movie two thumbs up, an A+, or a five-star
rating—whichever suits you best. But a word of caution: if you’re easily scared, you
might not want to watch this movie right before you go to
bed.
Originally published at Ritro.com.
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