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.
Cooper’s Uday to remember is enough to make Lee Tamahori’s blend of fact and fantasy highly watchable. But it’s more for Tony Montana fans than those after a more balanced account of Saddam’s shame.
A blistering, brutal Iraqi Scarface. You do wonder what the point of it all is, but Cooper is fantastic. Twice.
This is not a biopic given to deep psychological or political insights.
This rambunctious romp is not for the faint-hearted but it is packed with over-the-top lines to quote for weeks after.
One of the ugliest films for a long time, visually and otherwise.
Tamahori’s sensationalist direction owes more to the stylised excess of Scarface than historical accuracy when a more sober approach would have made a greater statement about abuse of power and its victims.
This isn't exactly a complex study of Iraqi history, but director Lee Tamahori punches it across, and the Stalinesque use of doubles in Iraq is interesting.
Lurching from breathless melodrama to Bond-like adventure it is never convincing but it is also never dull.
Dominic Cooper is hammily amusing in one part and merely wooden in the other.
Drama about lookalike Iraqi soldier fails to inspire.
Cooper gives a great performance, or rather two great performances, although it's really only Uday's depravity that keeps you glued to the screen.
It's not much of a story, but Cooper tears into the tyrannical half of the role with gusto – or should that be disgusto?
It's all flash and trash, a film filled with guns, girls and gold, but lacking the kind of wigged-out operatic grandeur that someone like Brian De Palma or Oliver Stone at their most excessive would have brought to it.
For most of its running time, The Devil's Double is a fascinating but superficial magazine article about Uday's excesses, but later it bolts on some hackneyed B-movie complications which are so absurd that they make you doubt the truth of everything that's gone before. It's still a watchable film, but Latif – and Cooper – deserved better.
Nothing new to say about Iraq...Dominic Cooper, however, gives a convincing, at times truly chilling dual performance.
The Devil's Double and more movies on the megalomanical
Saddam's demon seed
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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