A little-known Michael Caine thriller - and perhaps for good reason.

Deadfall is one of Michael Caine’s more obscure films, and it’s not hard to understand why. The film can only be described as 145 minutes of misguided suspense combined with a thoroughly unconvincing love story which leaves so much unsaid that as the credits roll you sit there in frustration wondering ‘was that it?’.

It all starts so well: Caine plays Henry Clarke, a professional conman and cat-burglar who has consigned himself to rehab for alcohol addiction as part of an elaborate ruse to gain the trust of his next target, Salinas – a wealthy composer. One day, Clarke is visited by the mysterious and beautiful Fe (Giovanni Ralli) who is aware of his skills and wishes to entice him to work with her on a job.

Now, at this stage, I think that we are expected to see some magnetic sexual tension between the pair, which means that he is powerless to turn down her offer to accept a much lower cut for a job that he is already planning to do solo. Unfortunately, all I could see was a lot of worried glances, poorly-written flirty lines and absolutely no sexual chemistry between the actors whatsoever. Plus, Michael Caine is wearing so much make-up, it’s hard to see why Ralli isn’t pointing and laughing at him.

The plots thickens when we are introduced to Fe’s husband Richard (Eric Portman) who you would never match his beautiful wife with in a million years. This doubt is cleared up when you learn that he is in fact gay and is also attracted to Clarke. It must be all that make-up.

This bizarre love triangle detracts from what could be a great heist movie, if they had just concentrated on that. Instead, the central characters reveal titbits of information about their pasts which suggest more interesting plot lines - which never come to fruition. At one stage, it is suggested that Richard had once been involved with the Nazis and had a multitude of dark secrets that you convince yourself will all be revealed, but which never are. This just makes the audience feel as though there are many more exciting plot lines bubbling under the surface that you are never made privy to, which is incredibly frustrating.

The over-the-top proclamations of love between Caine and Ralli are laughable, to say the least. It doesn’t even look like they like each other that much. And the suggestion that Richard is sexually attracted to Caine is so subtle that if you blink, you’ll miss it.

It’s not all doom and gloom, the film is set in Spain and the scenery is unquestionably beautiful as is the impressive score by composer John Barry of James Bond fame - shame that this is where my compliments about the film must end.

The suspense created in the first 20 minutes is misleading, because after that time all you are left with is a marginally exciting heist scene followed by a multitude of uninteresting characters staring into space and not giving you anything which would give you good cause to empathise with their story.

I convinced myself that at the end there would be a dramatic crescendo where the dark sub-plot would be revealed, and I would be there smiling and thinking ‘wow, that was worth sitting through’. Instead all I was left thinking was that at some stage it would be nice to visit Spain.

Deadfall is released on the 31st January 2011

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