Customer Reviews

Original Sin (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I have to say that this movie, which clearly has two beautiful actors, is indeed the mixing of lust and love and can make one wonder, if it is possible to separate the two, once they have collided.

Great show of how both love and lust can turn you loco.

Although this film bombed at the box office, it is pleasantly good. A throwback to 1940s film noir or the middle Hitchcock period. The unrated copy has more sex (Antonio in full profile) but the irony is that the sex scenes are actually irrelevant to an intriguing plot about love, lust, and identity. Angelina Jolie plays Jane Russell, who marries a Cuban coffee plantation owner (Antonio). She is unrxpectedly attractive and turns his interest into obsessive lust. However, her identity is false and she steals everything from him: wealth, status, personal dignity. And yet he continues to pursue her across the island for the lost illusion. Not a slam bang action thriller, more akin to Hitchcock's films about confused identities and mystery motives. The sets and scenery of colonial Cuba are nicely recreated, and the music is sultry. The plot twists in the final half hour are improbable but give a fascinating angle which avoids the obvious end-game. Much better than I expected and a fun night.

I haven't seen it(yet) but I like them both, but I heard that Antonio has a few"eye popping moments" How much does he show exactly? Like everything? Or what? Just so I am not surprised when I do see it.. How much?

WARNING: SOME VERY MILD SPOILERS*****

The first time I saw this, I was prepared to laugh at a sleazy, direct-to-video Harlequin novel-on-celluloid. What is it about Antonio Banderas? He's very handsome and not a bad actor, but he seems to choose a lot of really cheesy projects, "Femme Fatale" being a particularly awful one I recall watching.

But I thought this was a decently entertaining, if not brilliantly deep film. I was unaware at that time of it's provenance -- it's based on an excellent novel by Cornell Woolrich called "Waltz into Darkness". The book is well worth reading if you like this film. It was also made into a film in the mid-sixties by Francois Truffaut called (inexplicably ) "Mississippi Mermaid". Strange title, because the original novel is set in 1870s New Orleans and Julia travels to meet Louis on a steamer down the Mississipp BUT in the Truffaut film he reset the story in the 60s and the action of the film in colonial Africa and the French Riviera!

"Original Sin" is, interesting, vastly closer to the novel than the Truffaut version. The setting is changed to Cuba, presumably to accodomodate Bandera's accent, but the period is correct and the story doesn't work well in modern times, so overall, I find "Original Sin" to be the better of the two movies -- and that's saying a lot, as Truffaut is revered as a brilliant director. ("Mississippi Mermaid" is NOT by any means one of his better efforts, however.)

An early cautionary tale of "personals ads" and blind dating, the story seems even more relevant today than when it was written. Luis (Banderas) writes to a mail order bride, who is supposed to be plain, shy and religious. He is surprised when stunningly beautiful and sexy Julia (Angelina Jolie, of the collagen injected lips) shows up. Even though she betrays him and cheats on him and steals all his money...he still loves her. Both film versions clean up the ending -- I won't give the film ending away -- but in the book, Julia/Bonny actually kills Louis/Luis. A very bleak ending. Don't worry, the movie is a lot more fun.

The kind of film that falls under the heading of "guilty pleasure", "Original Sin" has lots of great costumes and sets and Banderas and Jolie are two of the sexiest people imaginable and we get to watch them getting hot and heavy. (BTW: the "unrated version" isn't really all that dirty...I don't get the rating thing. The sex isn't graphic or bizarre in any way -- it's two people who are MARRIED and making love. In the age of "Sex in the City", what the heck is the big deal?)

Anyways, call over your best girlfriends, microwave some popcorn and have a good time....

Overall, I would rate this film a passable 3-plus stars, just above ok, but I just had to add the comment for anyone thinking of buying (or renting) this movie that I thought it had some unexpectedly apt and quoteable dialogue and astute observations on the nature of love. It has interested me in seeking out the book on which this film is based.

Antonio Banderas plays a wealthy Cuban who is to be married to an American woman he doesn't know. He marries an actress, played by Angelina Jolie. But she isn't the woman he thinks she is. This movie had twists and turns wondering where it would lead the viewer. It was a seductive and captivating movie. Angelina Jolie plays the role of a seductress very well. Antonio Banderas is gorgeous as a dashing, yet naive man.

Basically the movie is about a wealthy Cuban landowner who orders a mail-order bride to come to cuba and live with him. Along the way she is ambushed and an imposter(Angelina Joile) takes her place and assumes her identity. She married him and robs him blind along with a co-hort who lurks in the background. There is more to the film but I dont wanna ruin it for you. Buy or rent it. Its an excellent story with lots of [hot] scenes and two great lead actors:Antonio Banderas and Angelina Joile.

[Appealing] thriller- much better than I was expecting. Plays like a noir piece- definitely get the unrated version. The erotic love scenes with Jolie and Banderas sizzle and are shot with style. The chemistry between Banderas and Jolie is palatable really comes off the screen- such a nice change after seeing so many hot coupls fizzle instead of sizzle.

Lush tropical setting is gorgeous!

Unlike most flawed dramas, Original Sin is actually better in its second half, when some gripping plot twists occur. Antonio Bandaras makes his character three dimensional. Angelina Jolie is given less to work with, and we never quite understand her character but that doesn't take from her charm as the protagonist.

All that is fine and dandy, but something big is missing from the overall feel of the film. The color tone through out is semi-sepia, which gives it a tinge of brownish orange -- quite irritating if you know that the real Spain could have been spectacular on screen anyway! The camerawork is quaky at times, which I found rather distracting, and the same goes for the pieces of soft porn thrown in, replete with predictable and occasionally even corny dialogue.

Nonetheless, the movie progresses into a good plot, until an almost unprecedented fantastically dramatic ending. Which is great!

Problem? Even though the end had come, and gone, the movie went on. What should have been an awesome dramatic ending was lurched 180° around towards what can only be described as a Hollywoodesque denouement. As if somebody had quite literally glued that ending onto the movie after it was already finished. What could have been a solid 4.5 to 5, turned to a meagre 3 in the last 10 (unforgivable) minutes.

My advice: rent it, but stop it 10 minutes before the credit roll if you can.

This movie is absolutley Amazing... It has a Thrilling sexy, passionate and intriguing plot that's preformed beautifully. Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie are two of the sexiest actors in Hollywood and were cast wonerfully for the roles. The locations, sets and costumes were breathtaking. Everything was shot wonderfully from the scenes in the jail to passionate love making.
On the surface the movie, espically at the begining does seems simply like an excuse to get it's stars in bed together but looking further into the plot it becomes much more complex. Luis (Banderas) is not stupid but deeply passionate and completley taken in by love. Julia (Jolie) is Woman who finally gets to expeirience true love but has many things to over come, including her feelings of never being worthy of her husband. For her entire life she's been seen as nothing but a whore and her sadistic boyfriend, Billy, continuously makes that clear to her, hence her amazment at the begining of the movie when Luis agrees to not sleep with her until she's ready. Combine all those emotions with murder, betrayal, robbery, assault, sex, and non stop momentum and you have an recipe for a fantastic story.
The movie can get graphic considering that Julia/Bonny (Jolie) more often then not is in a sexual situtation. Even the most explicit scene is less "pornographic" then most music videos, due to the fact that it's clearly driven by love and passion not sex just for the sake of sex . (don't get me wrong it's highly graphic but not really "dirty") *Overall it's a great Thriller and a great perspective of how Dangerous, blinding and exciting love can be.