Reel To Reel:
Secret Window
How It Rates: ***Starring: Johnny Depp
Rated: PG-13
Red Flags: Violence, Language
Preconceived Notions: Can Depp do it again after Pirates Of The Carribean?
The Bottom Line: He does, even though some may feel jerked around a little.
Johnny Depp appears to be channeling Captain Jack Sparrow in the first 20 minutes of Secret Window. Maybe that was intentional, maybe not. I won't say any more than that, because after the end of the film, reflect back on that observation and judge for yourself.
Depp plays horror writer Mort Rainey who's doing more sleeping than writing as the picture opens (been there, done that). Writers' block has left him a mess, as has a breakup with his wife. He's living in the type of dark musty cabin that horror movies just adore. And here comes a deranged fan, John Shooter (John Turturro), who claims Rainey ripped off a short story he wrote. Secret Window is itself adapted from a novela by Stephen King, and Depp at times resembles the Master of Macabre.
As somebody who knows what it's like to struggle through a novel, Depp has got it down cold. I really don't want to reveal any more about the plot, except that we eventually learn a lot more about Shooter, and he's not simply some psycho.
Suspense films have a lot in common with caper films, and the challenge with both is to construct a mystery and/or con that is both beliveable and suspenseful. For the most part, Secret Window succeeds, but there are things you will still wonder about, when you think back upon them in light of the picture's end. However, I don't think you'll really mind them, and it's because of Depp's performance.
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