Angelina Jolie is my favorite actress (I liked Tomb Raider, despite what everyone else had to say), and Antonio Banderas is not bad too. However, at the time of viewing it, I had never heard of the film before nor I knew who the cast was. The principal reason that prompted me to rent the movie was it's name.
Original Sin.
Conjures up images of.... um well, we'll just let that be. ;-)
Anyway, back to the movie. It's not a love story. But it is a story about love. And passion. Between Luis Durand (Antonio Banderas) and Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie). Julia and Luis have maintained correspondence through letters, and have decided to marry each other. It's not a relationship based on love or attraction, but one on common sense. As Luis says, "it is not important for a woman to be beautiful in a marriage. What is more important is that she be homely and caring".
But when Luis meets Julia for the first time, he finds out that she is much more beautiful than the photo of her which she had sent him. She says she "didn't want anyone to fall in love with her external beauty". Luis has a confession of his own to make: in their correspondence, he had said that he was merely a plantation worker in Cuba, whereas in actuality, he's the owner. He didn't want anyone to fall in love with his riches.
"We've got something in common", says Luis, "we can't be trusted". But Luis can. And Julia can't.
Without revealing too many details about the plot, let me just say that it's got more ups and downs and twists and turns than a roller coaster ride. Murder, suspense, passion, betrayal, poison, everything. With most movies, you can figure out the plot within the first twenty minutes. After that, you're still in the theater to catch the acting and see if the director is as smart as you. This, however, is one of the few movies that will constantly keep you guessing.
It really is edge of your seat stuff, you're eager to know what's coming next. And although the end is a bit predictable (good guy wins, bad guy dies) as well as a bit unrealistic, what the hell, its only one flaw in an otherwise perfect film.
Watch it, it really is a whole lot better than the mindless shit that they tend to pass off as movies nowadays.
And oh yes, as a side bonus, the film contains two "scenes". You get to see Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. Naked.
SO I GUESS I DID GET MY MONEY'S WORTH AFTER ALL