Today’s quick review: Deathtrap. Michael Caine stars as an aging playwright who hasn’t produced a success in years. Christopher Reeve plays one of his students, an aspiring writer who has written the perfect play and wants Caine’s opinion of it. Realizing that his student has surpassed him in every way, Caine contemplates murder as a means of stealing the play for himself. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game between Caine, who must find a way to get away with murder, and Reeve, who is more clever than he looks.
Deathtrap is a minimalistic thriller that adapts a stage play by Ira Levin. The cast is small, just Caine, Reeve, and a handful of supporting characters, and most of the action takes place at Caine’s home. Although billed as a comedy, the predominant tone is tension: Caine must pick the right moment and method to do away with his young student, while Reeve’s own suspicions make this difficult. The quality of the film hangs on this tension, but it does not live up to the potential of the premise or the pedigree of the actors. Neither Caine nor Reeve plays a particularly likable character, and the premise places a number of restrictions on the plot that the movie struggles to overcome. Even a couple of unexpected twists are not enough to breathe life into the story.
Deathtrap should be skipped by anyone who is not already a fan of Ira Levin or this genre of story. As a thriller, Deathtrap is outclassed by a variety of action thrillers like The Departed that supplement the same core of deception and betrayal with larger casts and firefights. As a dark comedy, Deathtrap is outclassed by Murder by Death and other spoofs of the mystery genre. For those who are still interested in the concept of a minimalistic cat-and-mouse thriller starring Michael Caine, Sleuth is a better choice that supplements a similar structure with a degree of perverse fascination that Deathtrap does not manage to achieve. Avoid Deathtrap unless you have a specific reason to try it out. 7.0 out of 10 on IMDB.