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All of you who post here to criticize the movie for its alleged dullness, incomprehensibility, lack of feeling, and all you homophobes (what is wrong with you people, anyway?) and dropouts both amuse and sadden me. Your ranting diatribes, full of typos, grammatical errors and misplaced apostrophes, lack substance, taste, and judgement. I find it interesting that you assume Tom was gay, when it's never clearly expressed, and his sexuality was ambiguous in the novel as well. The people he actually pursued or was involved with were Meredith and Marge, after all. Why are you so sensitive about homosexuality? Why does it matter? The thing that's fascinating about this movie is the way we identify and root for the antihero, the man who kills everyone, who loathes himself so deeply that the only way he can love himself is by assuming the identity of the man he so fervently admires. Damon is understated and utterly creepy, a little monstrous and very sympathetic; Law is very subtle as the playboy who's unfaithful, spoiled and fickle, and yet likeable and charismatic. The criticism of the film's slow pace is so typical of the American attention span. I found the sense of desperation and the breakdown of Tom's mental state to be enthralling. I've seen it at least half a dozen times (probably more) and every time I notice some new detail, some new symbolism. The photography is phenomenal, and the attention to detail and character is amazing. Minghella retains the feeling and spirit of the book, if not all the exact details. The suspense waxes and wanes but the tenseness permeates the whole movie -- the point is not *what* is happening, but why. The moments when Ripley is most monstrous are those when we care most deeply about him. It is indeed a movie for educated adults that raises more questions than it answers; if you're only looking for Jackie-Chan-esque films that merely entertain and don't have the audacity to try to make you think, then this clearly isn't the film for you.
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