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Trailer—Eyewitness

Eyewitness

The good: Sigourney, Sigourney, Sigourney Weaver. She does look stunning in her younger years and her acting charisma shines brightly on the silver screen. The bad: this story is disjointed and not very believable at all. That's quite a pity. Furthermore this movie wants to be a mix of a romance AND a thriller, ending up being neither of both. Quite a few good actors are starring in this movie, unfortunately largely ruined by an implausible, disjointed storyline. Still worth a watch for the true Sigourney Weaver fans, but dont get your hopes up...

William Hurt stars as the brooding janitor in this sub-Hitchcockian thriller directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt). No-one in the film is quite what they seem, and Hurt plays the role of ambivalent hero/anti hero intelligently. Sigourney Weaver shows what a fine actress she really is whilst Christopher Plummer adds gravitas to the proceedings. Like Benton's Still Of The Night the film is well-crafted and often intriguing. Definitely well worth watching.

EYEWITNESS turns out to be a shockingly bad thriller in the sub Hitchcock mould. Incredible to think that director Peter Yates once made films of the calibre of BULLITT. Everything seems misconstrued here and everything rings hollow; literally the only reasons to tune in are Sigourney Weaver and Christopher Plummer, both the professionals that they are, but the rest is awful. William Hurt's sleazy janitor hero actively stalks and coerces Weaver into bed, but somehow seems to be commended for it, and the writer based it on his own behaviour - how did this pass?! Every foreigner is a villain of some colour and it's all confused, muddled, pointless. As for that cut price BEN HUR ending, well, what were they thinking?

There is a murder without an apparent motive, so the viewer is in the dark for over half the film. When someone is killed without the audience being involved with the "why", interest quickly wains. Such is the case with "Eyewitness". Despite totally acceptable acting from a terrific cast, the film seems slow and constantly bogging down in blind alley subplots. When the motive for the murder is finally revealed, it almost seems like it comes out of a different movie, having little to do with what precedes it. William Hurt is very good as the mild mannered janitor with a crush on television news reporter Sigourney Weaver. Christopher Plummer is very effective in bad guy roles such as here, or in films like "The Silent Partner". James Woods plays James Woods, which is always interesting. Overall though, things never come together, due mainly to the muddled script. - MERK

William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver both have their share of good moments in this otherwise quite run-of-the-mill thriller. It is effectively photographed at times, and it is also helped out by dark, moody lighting choices, however the film lessens in quality as it progresses, with the inclusion of events that lack in credibility, ridiculous action scenes and supporting characters that seem to serve little purpose. There are two basic threads of story, and when they finally intertwine, it seems just utterly contrived. The style here is good, and the leading roles are well cast, but there is little else worthy of note in this film.

This movie is great fun to see William Hurt, James Woods and Sigourney Weaver at the beginnings of their careers and when they were experiencing a good deal of success. The rest of the cast is top-notch. The story is very interesting and effective, though I found the film a bit uneven and slow.

Given the talent in this film, 'Eyewitness' should be far better than it is. It starts off interesting but devolves into far fetched and contrived nonsense pretty quickly. Hurt and Weaver are the best they can be given the material they have to work with. Look for the amazing Irene Worth, Chris Plummer and Morgan Freeman whose talents, unfortunately, are largely wasted here. The film wins no awards from us animal lovers either.

"Eyewitness" has one really good scene. NYPD detective Morgan Freeman plops down next to his partner and says, "Julie and I are giving up. We're going to try adoption". It's a throwaway line and the scene has absolutely no bearing on the plot, but it's the only genuine character moment in the film. This is pretty scattered as plotting goes and nothing works in terms of creating tension or characters (an injustice to its array of talent) but calling it boring is too simple. It's shocking how the opening credits give way to something that just . . . happens, then plods along for a while and finishes. All to a non-existent score. It's a thriller with no suspense, personality or feeling. In that respect, it's something unlike anything I've ever seen. 4/10