Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum
Side Effects
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Rating: 4/5
Steven Soderbergh has made some terrific movies over the years but Side Effects is supposed to be his last big screen outing as he is set to return from the director’s chair.
While we all hope that Soderbergh does change his mind and continues to make movies he has gone out with a bang.
Side Effects is a provocative thriller about Emily and Martin (Mara and Tatum), a successful New York couple whose world unravels when a new drug prescribed by Emily's psychiatrist (Law) - intended to treat anxiety - has unexpected side effects.
I have always been a big fan of Soderbergh’s work and he has delivered another movie treat as this is a tense and gripping thriller from start to finish.
Side Effects is a fast paced movie as Soderbergh directs a well crafted story that is intelligent, entertaining as well as quite dark.
There are some great central performances particularly from Rooney Mara and Jude Law as patient and doctor.
But what works so well is none of these characters are entirely sympathetic and you just feel that there is a dark side to all of them.
Jude Law gives another great performance in a Soderbergh film as a doctor who is on a quest to find out what happened to Emily and why she had such a story reaction to this cutting edge job.
Rooney Mara is also terrific as Emily, a young woman who has struggled with depression for many years - together Mara and Law have some terrific scenes together; particularly at the end of the movie.
As Side Effects progresses it becomes a cat and mouse games as everyone tries to out-smart and out-manoeuvre one another and this makes it a truly riveting watch.
The director from Soderbergh is sharp and crisp and he has always been a great story-teller and a fantastic creator of tension and unease.
If we never see another Soderbergh film on the big screen then it will be a crying shame but he really has gone out in style as Side Effects is a terrific watch.
Side Effects is out now
Tagged in Jude Law Stephen Soderbergh Rooney Mara