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The Deceivers

1988, Movie, PG-13, 112 mins

The Deceivers: Review

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Producer Merchant's first collaboration with a director other than James Ivory is something of a departure from the genteel films with which Merchant and Ivory have made their considerable reputation--A ROOM WITH A VIEW; MAURICE; THE BOSTONIANS. Brosnan (TV's "Remington Steele") plays a recently married officer of the East India Company who, despite his frowned-upon proclivity for fair treatment of the Indians, seems well positioned to move up the company ladder. His life changes drastically, however, when he stumbles on a band of murderers, members of the notorious and deceptive secret Thugee (from which our word thug derives) sect, as they brutally and efficiently strangle a group of travelers. Soon thereafter he rounds up the murderers and persuades one of them, Jaffrey, to reveal the secrets of his Thugee comrades. Relieved of his command by a skeptical superior, Brosnan masquerades as a Thug and, accompanied by Hussein, infiltrates the deadly cult. Although THE DECEIVERS doesn't completely succeed as either a historical film or an adventure, it is never boring. When the adventure flags, the historical details maintain interest; when the finely etched setting becomes oppressive, the action generally picks up the slack. Director Meyer (TIME AFTER TIME; STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN) deserves most of the credit for this interest, as his excellent pacing overcomes the lapses of dramatic impetus in Hirst's screenplay, managing to maintain a level of tension that isn't inherent in the relatively pedestrian plot. Meyer also coaxes an effective, if uneven, performance from Brosnan, who is extremely convincing when he is in uniform but is less so when in the somewhat-implausible position of deceiving the Deceivers. leave a comment
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