Fatale (2020) * *

 

Directed by:  Deon Taylor

Starring:  Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy, Damaris Lewis, Danny Pino, Mike Colter

(Potential spoilers alert) 

Brought to you by the same creative team from last year's insipid The Intruder comes Fatale, a noir thriller starring Hilary Swank which is at least better than her last effort The Hunt (2020).   That's faint praise and leads me to wonder what agent is representing the two-time Oscar winner that recommends she star in such dreck.   

The title Fatale suggests a sultry female lead who twists men around on her finger.   That's not the case here.   Hilary Swank is a lot of things, but she can't pull off sultry.  She arrives about fifteen minutes into the movie as a woman named Valerie with whom our protagonist Derrick (Ealy) has a one night stand in Las Vegas.   Derrick is a former basketball player who runs his own fledgling sports agency.   He has having Problems At Home though despite owning a mansion off Mulholland Drive.   His realtor wife Traci (Lewis) is distant and comes home late after apparent midnight house showings.   Derrick's partner Rafe (Colter) asks Derrick to consider an offer from William Morris to buy their agency, which would net them both a boatload of cash.   When Derrick goes with Rafe to a Vegas bachelor party, Rafe tells him to have some extramarital fun and even takes Derrick's wedding ring off.

Derrick soon encounters Valerie.  They dance and are soon doing the nasty in bed.   When Derrick wakes up the next morning, he tries to slink away but finds his cell phone is in Valerie's hotel room safe.   That is tip-off number one that Valerie will soon move into Fatal Attraction territory.   When Derrick arrives home (with cell phone in hand), he cooks a dinner for Traci out of guilt and then they have makeup sex interrupted by a home invasion.   And guess who's the detective working on the investigation of the intrusion?   Valerie of course.   

At this point, I was enjoying the possibilities of the unhinged Valerie making life hell for the straying Derrick while holding his indiscretions over his head.   But then Fatale turns into another movie entirely.   Valerie involves Derrick in a labyrinthine plot involving infidelities, Valerie trying to win custody of her daughter from her cruel ex, Valerie's Past, and plot twists which owe something to Strangers on a Train and Double Indemnity.   If Valerie had gone the Fatal Attraction route, Fatale may not have been entirely successful, but it wouldn't be a needlessly complicated snoozer either.   

I started to have questions, such as:  Do Valerie's neighbors grow annoyed at all of the gunfire going on in her loft?    Isn't it a bit too easy to access her loft or the elevator?    What about the death of Valerie's ex at the hands of Derrick?   How did he manage to avoid criminal charges there?   Is Valerie related to Michael Myers?   This all could've been fun if it weren't so determined to be dark and have its characters all be guilty of something.   There had to be a way Valerie could've accomplished what she wanted without all of these moving parts.   What a headache.