Rating: 
Summary: Thou Shalt Not Marry
Review: This film is based on the novel "Waltz into Darkness" by Cornell Woolrich. The film is one of those deliriously trashy stories involving sex, betrayal, murder, and contains individuals caught in their own respective webs of corruption.
Luis Vargas (Antonio Banderas) is a handsome and seemingly mild-mannered 19th century Cuban coffee mogul. The pragmatic entrepreneur has everything ... except a wife. His mercantile mentality stretches into his personal life, as he figures the best way to marry without the complication of love would be to obtain an American mail-order bride. As the story opens, he is headed to meet the woman who he feels will make his life complete. Angelina Jolie ("Tomb Raider") is Julia Russell, a young American who wants to make a change in her life. She steps off the boat, pouting and vamping, and affecting a Madonnaesque English accent for no apparent reason, and her face doesn't match the picture sent to Luis. She offers an acceptable reason, and his initial suspicions are dropped. Just hours later, she and Louis are married. Along with the splendiferous sex shot from overhead so you can see both beautiful movie star bodies interlocked in various poses you get artful closer angles detailing their exquisite body parts -- worked-out chest and sun-tanned thighs, delicate profile and heaving breasts, etc. -- in all their luminously perspiring perfection. Extreme close-ups on naked bodies, smoldering brown eyes, massive lips, and arty post-coital contortions follow (I was looking for the game of Twister under the sheets, but didn't see those telltale colored dots).
And it's not just the imagery that's campy. Check out the dialogue: "I am someone else with you," declares the valiant Luis. "Someone more like myself." Beat. She responds in her voice over, "And there in his arms, I became someone else."
At first, they seem deliriously happy. He is so smitten that he allows her access to all of his considerable financial resources. But the "honeymoon" ends when the bride not only steals his heart, she cleans out the joint bank account and disappears (pouting and vamping as she goes). When Luis pursues the larcenous lovely to Havana, he learns the truth about her identity, her capacity for violence and his own inability to resist temptation. American PI Walter Downs (Super-hottie Thomas Jane, "Deep Blue Sea") shows up to investigate at the behest of the real Julia's sister, Emily. Luis decides that, since he can't live without his conniving wife, he wants to be the one to kill her. So he hires Downs, too (even though he only has $11 left in his bank account). But instead of killing her, he ends up killing for her. (When Banderas says, with an admirably straight face, "I have killed for her. And I would do it again," I felt like raising my hand, "Me, me! Pick me!")With its steamy locale and duplicitous heroine, "Original Sin" is a Latin kin to noir thrillers such as "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Body Heat" (twice removed from "Vertigo"). Although it's not in the same class as those films, it juggles its double-crosses with enough skill that we don't guess the secrets until a few seconds before the characters do. You might expect that the two sexy leads would generate a lot of on-screen heat, but although the lovemaking is picturesque, it doesn't convey the eruptive fury that would make the subsequent events seem inevitable. Jolie has narrow eyes and a ... purr whenever she's cornered into using her body, but Banderas isn't reckless enough to make a believable sucker. Nonetheless, the two stars are charismatic and Jane as the private investigator adds a homoerotic charge to an underwritten role. The kiss between Banderas & Jane not only surprises the viewer, but also makes you wonder why the palpable heat between the two wasn't explored more deeply. It might have made for a more interesting story. Like the actors, "Original Sin" has a handsome and seductive look that provides some of the rationale that the script does not. Banderas, Jolie, and Jane are perfectly cast. The location settings are gorgeous. The film is certainly no love story, as it is completely devoid of romance or chemistry between its two leads. But it is ABOUT love -- specifically, about the lengths to which people might go when they are madly in love. The dialogue is so corny; I kept looking for a Niblets product placement. I think I got Jell-O instead, when one of Julia's would-be suitors, standing outside her bedroom door as she undresses, declares, "My heart is pudding. I will go, but my pudding is all broken!" Of course, this screenplay does come from the same man who wrote this dialogue for Gia: "I do be da pittiest pittiest girl, I do be dat." The cinematography is under-lit and as one-dimensional as the screen, at times blending the actors' heads into the dark backgrounds. The actors often fade into the woodwork (maybe they were trying to) But kudos have to go to Jolie and Banderas -- who allow themselves to have their mouths spat into and be mano-a-mano soul-kissed, respectively -- for fully immersing themselves in this tawdry tête-à -tête and for playing their roles to their fullest folly (while pouting and vamping, of course). The loud, irritating soundtrack is upstaged only by some of the oddest editing I have ever seen, jam-packed with jump-cuts, step-zooms, blurry pans, incongruous dolly shots, and floating crane perspectives. The only wannabe arty shot I didn't see was "kitchen-sink." I don't know if Original Sin will become a contemporary camp classic like "Showgirls", but there is nothing original in it and the only sin is, this movie was finally released. At any rate, if you decide to shell out your hard-earned dough, you will certainly keep watching to see what outright outrageousness will be thrust upon you next. The original sin was murder -- and so is this movie!
Rating: 
Summary: This movie was terrible! So I watched it twice...
Review: This certainly isn't the best film ever made, but it was fun to watch. Speaking from a female perspective, I think it appealed to me on the cheesy Harlequin Romance novel level. There's drama, set in an idealized beautiful past, in what appears to be antebellum Cuba, a beautiful helpless woman with a past falls madly in love with a wealthy coffee bean plantation owner who she at first is supposed to steal from and leave penniless. The man (Luis, played by a VERY HOT Antonio Banderas...I LOVE his accent.), also falls so hopelessly in love with her that he is blinded by passion even when she repeatedly betrays his trust and nearly kills him. There's lot's of screaming tearful admissions of love, there's a villain, gun battles, narrow escapes, and mild porn. What more could you ask for? Perfect for an evening or afternoon with the girls and a big bowl of popcorn and some ice cream. Lot's of scenes with Antonio Banderas half-naked(that brings this movie up by one star all by itself in my book). So if you're looking for a good chick flick, this is your movie. If you're a guy and you want to see a lot of Angelina Jolie's boobies, this movie is for you too.
Rating:
Summary: CHOPPY BUT THE TWISTS HELP A LITTLE
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: [Appealing] thriller!
Review: [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!
Rating: 
Summary: Being Sinful Can Be Good
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: An (...) Erotic Thriller
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: deeper than on the Surface
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The strangest twist in this movie is that it's actually good
Review: I rented Orginial Sin thinking it would be a terrible cheesecake movie, like Madonna's Body of Evidence or Kathleen Turner's Body Heat. But it was actually a very good movie, a modern Hitchcock film almost as good as the Talented Mr. Ripley. Sure, there's sex in it. You see a lot of Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, as well as other people. But there's a story beneath all of it, and it's an intriguing movie even without the sex scenes. Jolie plays Jane Russell, who marries a Cuban coffee plantation owner named Luis Vargas through mail order--except only when they finally meet does he learn that she's beautiful and she learns that he is rich. However, Luis begins to discover that his bride has lied about more than her beauty, though he cannot stop loving her even as she deceives him. The movie would still be good even without the sex scenes. That's really what amazed me about it. Banderas and Jolie are very good actors, and are very convincing together. The sets and scenery of colonial Cuba are elegantly done, and the music is both accurate and sultry. The film editing is horrible, though--some scenes appear almost intentionally choppy, though I don't know why--and the ending is improbable, though satisfying. But it's really not a bad film overall, which is the biggest shock of all. If you liked The Talented Mr. Ripley, or especially Hitchcock's Notorious, you would enjoy this movie.
Rating:
Summary: The story line about the power of love
Review: The story start from Mr. Vargas (antonio Banderas) picks his couple at the harbor. He is event don't know who's his couple because he only has a photo and letter form his couple. He found miss Russell but not same with the photo he has. That's the story start. The rest is showing their wedding ceremony and their romantic life with his wife (Miss Russell). But he only have a short romantic live because miss Russell just want his money and leave her husband after she has that money. In this case she is using others person to run her plan. The rest of it is Mr. Vargas try to find his wife to find his money and to know exactly who is she. But because Mr. Vargas so much in love with his wife he is do everything to make his wife back event his life. The story good for week end show and the sex scene quit romantic. One sex scene ant the beginning so beautiful
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully shot movie
Review: Original Sin is a pretty good movie with a good cast that is worth a watch. Luis Vargas, a rich plantation owner in Cuba, has sent away for a mail-order bride from America. When she arrives, he instantly falls in love with her. At first, their relationship seems to be going along fine, but things begin to change. His wife, Julia, runs away with all his money after he added her name to his account. The rest of the movie follows Luis as he tries to find her again as he chases her across Cuba. This movie isn't as bad as some people made it out to be although it isn't a great movie. It is beautifully shot with plenty of fantastic settings and lush colors. There is a couple graphic sex scenes with plenty of nudity so be forewarned. This is an enjoyable movie that is at least worth a watch. Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie are very good as the recently married couple, Luis Vargas and Julia Russell. Their relationship is very believable as Luis falls madly in love with his new bride. Thomas Jane is very good in a creepy role as Detective Walter Downs who is investigating something about Julia's past. The Unrated Edition DVD offers widescreen presentation, director's commentary, a Gloria Estefan music video, an animated photo gallery, and two theatrical trailers. For an entertaining movie with plenty of twists and turns with some nudity along the way, check out Original Sin.
|
