'The Double' review

Topher Grace and Richard Gere (Credit: Image Ent.)

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A Russian assassin known as Cassius, who once offed a slew of politicos, has been MIA and presumed long dead. But when a current senator is slain using Cassius' unique method, CIA and FBI officials fear that he—or a copycat—might be on the loose. To solve the case, they re-enlist the man who once hunted down Cassius, retired CIA agent Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) and team him up with a rookie FBI agent obsessed with the case, Ben Geary (Topher Grace). As the duo uncover clues, they find that the threat hits surprisingly close to home.

The buzz: Put the right A-list star in the right assassin-themed movie and you just might score a hit. It worked with Matt Damon in the Bourne trilogy, Angelina Jolie in "Wanted," and Liam Neeson in "Unknown." Even Geena Davis' tepidly received "The Long Kiss Goodnight" has held up pretty well over the years. Gere's been down this road before with 1997's "The Jackal," but that film failed to fire up the box office. Could he get it right this time around?

The verdict: The Cassius-style murder isn't the only copycat thing going on here. "The Double" feels like a retread of other sturdier, more sophisticated thrillers, filling in the blanks with a plot, characters and car chases that have a strong air of déjà vu. There's a very fun twist in "The Double" that happens early on, but if you've seen the movie's spoiler-y trailer, then you already know what's coming. Once the cards are on the table (or, at least most of them), "The Double" becomes par for the course. That's not an egregious sin by any means, but watching the movie is akin to pulling into a rest stop for a bite during a road trip: It'll do the trick and fill you up, but you know you've had better. The Cold War underpinnings feel quite outdated, and the film occasionally slips into Espionage Amateur Hour. You know: jump cuts straight out of a TV commercial, an overload of wide tracking shots of the DC skyline, the thumping soundtrack. "The Double" is also the kind of movie in which characters announce out loud—or, in one case, explicitly write down on paper—what's going on: "Holy mother of god, he's gonna do this!" We get it. No need to double up on explanations as well.

Did you know? Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas should know their way around star-driven assassin movies: They co-wrote "Wanted." "The Double" is also Brandt's directorial debut.