The Deceivers

A film review by Christopher Null - Copyright © 2005 Filmcritic.com

File under unlikely.

Remember the bad guys in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Those were the Thuggee, worshippers of Kali who happily assassinated and robbed their prey in the early 1800s. Here, a young British officer (Pierce Brosnan) uncovers Thuggees working in colonial India.

What's a budding Bond to do? He puts on a little brown face paint and decides to infiltrate the Thuggee cult to bring it down from the inside.

The setup is a bit silly, but the bigger problem is that the film just isn't very interesting or entertaining. Nicholas Meyer (best known for directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) provides a fairly low-energy production despite the rich setting and, you know, the tigers. Eventually the movie reveals itself to be a rather standard revenge story -- something that's been done much better before and since.

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Rating

2.5 out of 5 Stars

Cast and Crew

  • Director: Nicholas Meyer
  • Producer: Ismail Merchant
  • Screenwriter: Michael Hirst
  • Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey, Shashi Kapoor, Helena Michell, Keith Michell
  • MPAA Rating: PG-13