The Two Faces of January

This review may contain spoilers!

The Two faces of January is an epic masterpiece of story and acting perfection. I would give The Two Faces of January an 8.5/10.

The sets and location for this film were wonderful to watch, the entire film felt like something made in the late 60 to the 70s. The camerawork was also really expertly done, capturing big moments and high speed chases, but also the emotion within a character's face. However it was the expertly written story that portrayed this Oscar worthy plot of greed, jealousy, and psychological thriller. It was wonderfully written and has fast rocketed this film to one of my top favourites for this year alongside Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Twelve Years a Slave.

Oscar Isaac, who played Rydal, gave a brilliant performance that mirrored the duplicity of Mortensen perfectly; he showed a more heroic figure and yet he also had a layered depth that made him feel untrustworthy as a character.

Yet is was Viggo Mortensen, who played Chester MacFarland, that really showed off his acting talent within this film. He developed a character who fell in the most spectacular of ways from grace. His greedy possession of his money as well as his jealousy of Rydal's flirtation within his wife created a perfect corruption of the human being that I doubt I will see replicated as well in a character for the rest of 2014.

I had a problem with the film's soundtrack it's pace didn't heighten the film and it let it stale in places. The plot itself also felt like it dragged occasionally and slowed right down.

Kirsten Dunst, who played Colette MacFarland, wasn't necessarily a bad actress in this film but she didn't really get an opportunity to showcase any talent; her character was exceptionally stereotypical of a woman being used as power play tool for two male characters.