A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son.
The Devil's Double is, to put it simply, uninteresting. No two ways about it, there is nothing exciting on show...absolutely nothing. It's not thrilling, it's not funny and it's not dramatic. So what's the point? Based on the true story of Latif who is chosen to be the body double of Saddam Hussein's son, Uday. Obviously, Latif does not have a choice and so he is forced to adjust to a lavish lifestyle of sex, money and power. Problem is, director Lee Tamahori really didn't fully showcase this to its maximum potential. Everything felt restrained and all too familiar. However, there were glimpses of the effects of tyranny. A rather depressing example was when Uday raped a bride in which shortly after she then committed suicide...on her wedding day. That's powerful and the shocking imagery will probably leave you terrified. That's the only time where this 'unlimited' power is fully demonstrated. Several night club scenes where we listen to 80's dance music (including Spin Me Right Round...always a classic), see naked people dance and wave some golden AK47's in the air. It's a lavish lifestyle, yes...but it's never used to enhance the story. It's just an environment to try and shock us. Dominic Cooper is the saviour, his dual performance as both Latif and Uday was electric and refreshing. A rather underrated performance of his. The supporting cast? Forgettable. Instantly. Fortunately the central performance was enough to keep me awake. Tamahori's direction was fine, nothing outstanding but he did the job well. Some of the gory scenes were a tad excessive but does highlight one point: "Don't make Uday angry, and always do what he says". Scenes where he attempts to pick up young girls for sex were unnecessary. Show it once, fine. Show it three times, not fine. We get it, Uday was an awful guy. If the scene wasn't powerful enough first time around, it's not going to be for the third time. The film is fine, it's functional and there are much worse films available. Dominic Cooper was excellent and just about saved an uninteresting film from being bad.
