For some people, the familiarity and popularity of the cast who play in the film plays a big role in determining whether someone will watch the film or not. Not many Hollywood actors remain productive into old age, some choose to retire from acting or switch to taking care of the family business. Sir Ian Murray McKellen (Ian Mckellen) and Dame Helen Lydia Mirren (Helen Mirren) are two veteran British actors who have won various prestigious awards in both the theater and cinema but they remain productive and consistently star in quality films. So what happens if these two big names are paired in a crime thriller genre film? From the trailer, it looks like this film is quite promising and displays a mysterious impression, especially in terms of the story. This November the film titled The Good Liar which presents their acting duet will be present in Indonesian cinemas, in the US alone this film has been released on November 15. The film is directed by Bill Condon (Twilight, Dreamgirls, Beauty and The Beast) who also serves as producer. For the screenplay of this film written by Jeffrey Hatcher (The Duchess, Mr. Holmes)
A con artist named Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) has been working with his partner Vincent (Jim Carter) tricking people into investing their money into a fictitious investment platform that is actually a trap to take their money through a series of charades and the use of fake identities. The goal is for the victims to believe they will get double the benefits if they invest with Roy and Vincent. Sometime in 2009, Roy met Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) through an online dating app. Betty is a former lecturer in history at the University of Oxford who has lost her husband for a year and inherited a fortune worth £2 million, seeing this Roy considers Betty an easy prey as well as an opportunity for him to retire and live a luxurious life. Roy's first step is to find a way to live with Betty and he pretends to have a knee injury so Betty feels sorry for him. The idea for Roy to live with Betty is initially opposed by Steven (Russel Tovey), Betty's grandson, because he thinks his grandmother is too quick to believe. However, after dialogue and reassurance by his grandmother, Steven began to accept Roy by keeping an eye on his movements. Roy feels he will succeed in stealing Betty's inheritance money and begins plotting with Vincent. Will Roy's plan work smoothly this time or is there something about Betty that he doesn't realize? Was Betty really a widow with a plain normal life and could easily be duped by Roy and Vincent's fake investments? Will Roy's plan work smoothly this time or is there something about Betty that he doesn't realize? Was Betty really a widow with a plain normal life and could easily be duped by Roy and Vincent's fake investments?
With a film duration of 109 minutes, when watching you have to be patient enough because it is in the middle of the film that the core story of this film begins. The early part of the film focuses more on the introduction of Roy and Betty's characters and the closeness process between these two characters. As the story progresses, the audience is also invited to participate in thinking and making theories/hypotheses about who Betty really is and what big secret is being kept by her. If you often watch movies of this genre, then you must be aware that the clues of strangeness have been exposed, just waiting for the disclosure to be like. The mystery contained in the story of this film is more value than this film because it is kept neatly until the end of the story, the writer uses the timing of the mystery revelation very effectively and successfully invites the audience's curiosity so that when the big mystery of this film's story is revealed it still gives unexpected surprises to the audience. The new storyline becomes interesting and the tension is getting higher when Roy's past is revealed which turns out to be a surprise at the beginning. Departing from there, the audience is invited to think again while making new hypotheses which will later be tested in the final scene of this film. Even though there was minimal action, Roy's actions and sadism in getting rid of people who didn't agree with him were enough to shock and wince. The new storyline becomes interesting and the tension is getting higher when Roy's past is revealed which turns out to be a surprise at the beginning. Departing from there, the audience is invited to think again while making new hypotheses which will later be tested in the final scene of this film. Even though there was minimal action, Roy's actions and sadism in getting rid of people who didn't agree with him were enough to shock and wince. The new storyline becomes interesting and the tension is getting higher when Roy's past is revealed which turns out to be a surprise at the beginning. Departing from there, the audience is invited to think again while making new hypotheses which will later be tested in the final scene of this film. Even though there was minimal action, Roy's actions and sadism in getting rid of people who didn't agree with him were enough to shock and wince.
The acting skills of Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren in this film are unquestionable, they are each able to display characters that are convincing and make the audience connect. Ian McKellen is an actor who can transform into any character from a mutant with moral complications to a wise wizard, in this film he is able to play an elderly man who looks good on the outside but is vile and full of deceit. Meanwhile, Helen Mirren appears primed as an elderly woman who is kind and naive but turns out to have an unexpected secret. Both of them are character actors who have high flying hours so that their roles in this film are certainly enough to deceive the audience. As viewers we'd have a hard time judging both McKellen and Mirren when they're being honest, pretend, or somewhere in between. Russell with his character as Steven provides interesting dynamics in the film's story, which turns out to be a secret character.
The story in The Good Liar is adapted from the novel of the same name by Nicholas Searle, which explores the impact of past events or trauma on a person's life. Bill Condon uses an approach that really utilizes the acting skills of the two main actors in this film in terms of their age and experience so that it becomes a spectacle that still has appeal. Although the film itself has a mystery that is actually not too difficult to solve, the historical element that is inserted into the past of the two characters gives depth to the film's story itself. This film is clear evidence that the appearance of senior actors is still able to provide an interesting and different feel to the story as long as it is supported by a solid storyline.
