You know what that sound means? It's another
episode of Game for a Movie where we ask, are
you game for a movie? My name is Mike. I will
be your host this evening. Just in time for election
day, which is probably a week past at this point
because, you know, I'm always on top of the schedule.
I've got a political thriller for you as the
bad movie from 2011. But first, we've always
got to drop what we are drinking. This time it
is from Resident Culture Brewing right here in
Charlotte, North Carolina. It's a beer called
Motivations of the Heart. It is a West Coast
style IPA and it is 7 % by volume. I like this
a lot. I think this is very good. The beer itself,
fantastic. What always gets me about Resident
Culture is their cans are so freaking cool. Instead
of like the silver, they use a black can and
this is very like abstract art. on it i very
much like the can it got me to buy it from the
store without even trying it in the first place
and yeah this is a good beer motivations of the
heart from resident culture is our beer while
we talk about this bad movie tonight one of the
things i think i'm going to add to these episodes
now i talk a lot about the movie and everything
like that but i want to kind of like find a topic
from that movie that i'm going to talk about
at the end and just it's about film it's about
ideas like that from certain films and especially
these bad ones I think a lot of them still have
some things that are going for them a lot of
these conversations are probably going to be
like where they thought they were going right
that they went so wrong sometimes it's not going
to be about that this episode tonight is not
going to be that conversation we're going to
have a very specific conversation relating to
this film which this film, if you have not read
the title of this episode, is from 2011. It's
called The Double. It has Richard Gere, Topher
Grace, and Martin Sheen as your big names. It
also has a few other recognizable faces that
you will hear as I go into the details of the
film itself. The Rotten Tomatoes score. If you
don't know by now, I usually stick with something
that's under 40 % on both the critics and the
audience score. The critic score was 22%. The
audience score was 33%. So not very good numbers
for the double. It is PG -13 and it was released
October 28th of 2011. It is an hour and 38 minutes
long. The projected estimated budget was $13
,500 ,000. The gross worldwide... was $4 ,729
,855. Not the best, is what I will say. But,
you know, they tried at least. A little bit about
some of the people that were responsible for
this movie. We've got Michael Brandt, who directed
and wrote this film. Michael Brandt has been
a writer and producer on several things. He's
been a producer and executive producer and showrunner
on things like Chicago Fire. He was the writer
for 310 to Yuma and Wanted. He also has been
an executive producer because you can't just
be on one Chicago PD and Chicago Med. And then
he was also the executive producer on Chicago
Justice when that was a thing. Also, because
this is personal to us at the podcast. He was
the screenplay and story writer for Too Fast,
Too Furious, very underrated Fast and the Furious
film that you should definitely enjoy. And I
just learned while also looking at his page,
he is part of the screenplay for the in -development
Wanted 2 sequel coming out. I don't know if anybody
wanted that, but they're apparently working on
a sequel to the 2008 movie Wanted. His writing
partner on this one is a guy named Derek Haas.
Derek Haas has also worked with him on Too Fast,
Too Furious, Wanted, The Double, The Chicago
Shows, and then he's done a couple episodes of
FBI International. He is also one of the writers
on Wanted 2, and then also coming up is XXX4.
Derek Haas is responsible for writing some of
that. This movie was nominated for one award,
that is the Saturn Award for Best DVD Release.
It did not win in 2012, unfortunately, so that
is its one nomination. We're going to get into
details of this movie, but a little synopsis
before we get started. This is what we are jumping
in with. A retired CIA operative is paired with
a young FBI agent to unravel the mystery of a
senator's murder, with all signs pointing to
a Soviet assassin. That's kind of why I wanted
to watch it. With the election coming up and
everything like that, I decided that I was going
to watch this about three days before the election.
The idea of political thriller was stuck in my
head, so that's why I kind of wanted to watch
it. And having Russian spies in this movie definitely
felt like the right time for watching this movie.
Some things never change with Russian spies and
everything. Like I said, this movie is from 2011.
It's still relevant today in 2024. So the idea
of a political thriller with some Russian spies,
that kind of thing, definitely was up my alley.
So I had to watch it, obviously. So let's get
down and dirty with the details of this film.
I'm going to tell you everything about it just
so you don't have to watch it because I would
hate for you to have to deal with that. And then
I'm going to get into the discussion on this
episode about this movie in particular. So we
start and the first thing to know is the production
company is Image Nation Abu Dhabi. I just wanted
you to know that. I don't think it has any reference,
but at that time I wrote it down just in case
it did ever come to be. We start in Sonora, Mexico,
and there is a group of some Spanish people,
like Mexican people, and then there's about five
to seven people in this group. You don't get
an actual count, but about five to seven people
that are Russian, and they're trying to cross
the border to start this movie when all of a
sudden a border patrol, like border security
car, shows up and scares the group away. All
the Mexican people rush off, but the Russians
know this is their guy and they jump in the car
and drive off. Then we go to six months later.
And let me tell you right now, that scene was
not important at all. We just needed to see how
they got into the US and even that is just kind
of glossed over. Now it sets up that we are watching
these two FBI agents. They are spying on a guy
named Darden. He is a senator and he is played
by Ed Kelly. He leaves his hotel. And while the
FBI guys are watching, somebody comes around
and kills him immediately. Like it was really
quick. Senator Darden is down. So these two guys
that are FBI, they rushed to the scene. basically
set up a crime scene and this is where we get
introduced to martin sheen martin sheen he plays
highland director highland and he shows up to
the crime scene he gives a phone to one of the
guys that was watching senator darden and basically
is told to call their director and let them know
that highland from the cia is in charge this
is kind of We have CIA, we have FBI kind of working
together on this case. So Darden is a senator
that was being watched by the FBI. Hyland comes
and he is CIA and he tells the director of the
FBI or tells the guy to tell the director of
the FBI he's taking over. This scene cuts to
our main character, Richard Gere. He is playing
Paul Shepardson and he is watching a Little League
baseball game. There's nothing more American
than watching a Little League baseball game.
And he ends up talking to this woman about her
son and everything like that. And when she asks,
do you have any kids? He goes, no, I was just
in the neighborhood. He's like sitting in the
stands surrounded by the parents. And he's just
hanging out, like watching these kids play baseball.
It's really kind of creepy that nobody thought
this was wrong. Maybe that's just my thought
because it's Richard Gere, too. I don't know.
Something about it just doesn't feel right. And
this lady's just like, oh, okay, cool. He's just
from the neighborhood and watching these kids
play baseball. Whatever. The lady also asks him
the time, but he says to her he doesn't wear
a watch. This is actually a little detail that
I had to go back and write because it does become
a little more important to the story. So it feels
like something that's kind of like a throwaway
line, but truthfully, it ends up being a big
deal. So we're assuming after the game, Paul
Shepardson walks back to his house and waiting
for him is Highland. Highland is in his house.
And Highland seems to think that Cassius is responsible
for the death of Senator Darden. And Paul is
the go -to on Cassius. And he knows for a fact,
like he knows Cassius is dead. We don't know
anything else about Cassius until the next day.
The next day, Paul ends up going to the CIA with
Hyland just to kind of like hear the intel about
everything going on. We learn in this conversation
that Paul is the expert on the Cassius 7. The
Cassius Seven are named after the Roman assassins
who killed Caesar. He was responsible for catching
six of the seven. So the only one that got away
was Cassius. And Paul's convinced that he's dead.
Like Paul is convinced he's gone. There's no
chance he's still around, anything like that.
So he knows the six of the seven were arrested.
So he's just like, it's a done deal. We're done.
But somebody else is a little more skeptical.
This is Topher Grace's character of Ben Geary.
Ben Geary is a recent recruit of the FBI. He
is the young hotshot, and he has done the most
work about Cassius now that Paul is retired,
including he did his whole master's thesis on
the Cassius Seven, and that's how he got recruited
to the FBI. Paul is still pretty certain. He
is certain Cassius is dead. Ben is a little more
skeptical about it. So as Ben is like kind of
calling out Paul about the fact that he may still
be alive, Paul is like, dude, you're more a librarian
than an agent. All you've done is research. You
haven't been out in the field, that kind of thing.
And then Highland lets them know that one of
the seven that was captured is still alive, nicknamed
Brutus. And this is too much for Paul. Paul is
like, no, Brutus isn't alive. I shot and killed
him. But no, he actually is alive. He's in this
super secret facility. And so Highland wants
Paul and Ben to go to the facility and interview
Brutus and learn if they know anything, if they
can figure out anything more about Cassius and
if he's alive or not. Paul at this point is like,
no, I'm not doing this. No, Cassius is dead.
I'm retired. It's done. This is now. But then
he gets home. And he sees a car on the street
and he kind of is feeling like he's being watched.
He doesn't know exactly if he is or not. But
this is the moment I said that it looks like
Paul is unretiring. And so remember how I said
he didn't wear a watch? He grabs one from his
safe that is like a really fancy watch and he
puts it on. It's the next day and Paul meets
Highland at a coffee stand that's across the
street from the White House. And basically Highland
gives him an ultimatum. He says, if you're going
to retire, I need you just to either prove that
Cassius is dead or to find out if he did it.
So Paul is now on the case and he is partnered
with the new FBI kid, Ben Geary. Then we get
a 1988 flashback to the American embassy in Paris.
This flashback just shows that Paul knows how
to take down the seven and that he went to Highland's
office to tell him how to do it. And that Highland's
just like, okay, we're going to base our careers
on this. Now it's back to present day. Ben Geary
gets a call and is told basically you're no longer
a librarian. You're jumping in the field. So
now we got Paul and Ben and they're just kind
of the odd couple. You know, they're working
together and one's the grizzled vet. The other
is the green rookie. He's like excitement in
his eyes. He's ready to take down Cassius and
make a name for himself. And then Paul is just
kind of like you're putting all your eggs in
the wrong basket, kid. Like this isn't going
to work. While they're driving to the prison
that Brutus is in, basically Ben questions why
they never told Paul about Brutus. And truthfully,
what he says is that he would kill him. It's
pretty obvious that's why they didn't tell him.
Because they wanted to try to get more information
eventually out of him. And they know if they
told Paul, Paul would kill him. So Brutus in
the prison, he is played by Stephen Moyer. Stephen
Moyer's main claim to fame, he was in 81 episodes
of True Blood. But really, that's about it. So
you may know him from True Blood. That's kind
of really it. There's not much else you might
know him from. But Brutus, he is in the prison.
And Paul lets Ben do the interview. Paul also
brings into... the jail cell he knows that Brutus
would want a radio so if he talks they're going
to offer him this radio like it's a boombox kind
of thing and so Ben leads the charge talking
Russian to Brutus which Brutus then says in Russian
just because I wanted to include this your mother
is a whore Brutus obviously doesn't remember
Paul at first but Paul's just kind of sitting
in the background not really saying anything
and just kind of like hiding in the shadows Ben
offers him the radio And says, I will give this
to you if you can tell me anything about Cassius.
And so we get a little kind of flashback where
Brutus talks about how the seven became trained,
forced to kill each other because there were
12 before. And I say there are 12. The Cassius
seven is Cassius and then six other guys. And
there was 12 recruits and the 12 recruits became
six because they killed each other. Brutus admits
that they use wires and not knives. And so all
of a sudden something clicks with Ben that, oh,
it was a wire that he's used to kill all of his
like opposition and everything like that. It
wasn't a knife or anything. So one of the things
is that he went back and thought about was Senator
Darden. His throat was slit and everybody was
thinking knife, but really it was a sharp ass
wire. Brutus is like giving all this stuff kind
of up it's you know he's still holding a little
back and everything like that and Paul like cuts
up cuts the combo short and it's just like all
right we gotta get out of here now gives him
the radio and Ben is kind of miffed but follows
along because he's thinking oh you're the veteran
okay I'll just follow you along Brutus plays
the radio for a little bit he's playing the the
tape that's in it. And it's exactly what he wanted
to hear. And then he opens the boom box. He takes
the batteries out of the radio and he swallows
them whole. And this triggers a reaction for
Brutus and he ends up in the medical ward. And
so while he's like getting situated and everything
like that, he pukes up these batteries and then
he's able to get the jump on the doctors and
security. kills the doctors holding security
at gunpoint that kind of stuff and gets to the
parking garage when he gets to the parking garage
he thinks he's all clear and then he steps on
a battery and so he looks down and realizes that
it's a battery and paul is behind him paul knew
he was going to do this so he like is able to
grab him and tell brutus who he is he's the guy
who shot him in salzburg And he's also the guy
who trained him in Moscow. Yes, Paul is Cassius.
We get this big reveal early on that Paul is
Cassius. Brutus tries to stab Paul, but he's
too quick. And he pulls a wire through Brutus'
neck, killing him. And after he kills him, you
see the wire go back into Paul's watch. It's
retractable. It winds around there and everything
like that. This is what the big deal was about
the watch. So we now know very early on that
Paul is Cassius and that he has been doing all
the killings and everything like that. And that
his weapon is wire that comes from his watch.
After killing Brutus, he goes and watches Ben
at his house, like just kind of like checking
up on him. And it seems like he's going to like
kill him at first. Like he kind of gets ready
to kill him, but he sees Ben's wife. and he seems
to feel some kind of remorse or something like
that, so he doesn't pursue. That night when Paul
gets home, he has a flashback in his dreams where
he remembers killing his first target in Paris.
It was one of the seven. And he wakes up in,
like, a sweat, calls Ben, and says that they
need to meet. They meet at the reflection pond,
is what I'm thinking, is what they tried to set
up. Um, this movie was filmed in Detroit. So
there's a lot of buildings that you kind of see
like the GM headquarters and it's just kind of
reflected in like the water. And so it's definitely
like a mistake, but whatever, they're trying
to set it up. That's the reflecting pool in front
of the Washington monument. Who cares? I don't
really care. I just now pointing it out because
it is definitely a goof on that point. But basically
Ben and Paul meet. And he tells Ben to drop the
investigation because Cassius doesn't care who
he has to kill. And now that we know he's Cassius,
he's trying to more so protect him and say that
he doesn't want to kill him. But of course, Ben
doesn't want to. He just wants to put him away
for good. He wants that first big catch, and
he wants to be known as the guy who put Cassius
away. So they're in public. It's a very public
area. Paul can't do anything about it. He'd already
said he wanted him to stop, but he's not going
to stop. So whatever. They go their separate
ways. Ben goes back to his office, and he's doing
some research. He's back to librarian mode. He
also has a buddy there that's kind of helping
him out. That guy's name is Oliver. Oliver, not
a big deal. We don't really know who the actor
is or anything like that. Not that big a deal.
But basically, Ben is kind of working with Oliver,
and then he gets a call. And basically Ben is
told that Brutus has been killed with the wire.
So Ben goes over to the crime scene to try to
see everything that happened. He's like walking
through this, seeing what Brutus did to escape.
And the entire time Paul is like kind of right
behind him in the shadows, kind of watching over
him. Paul makes himself known. that he has been,
or he just got there and everything like that.
Just kind of like seeing what Ben knows. He wants
to, he wants to kind of pick his brain. And Ben
talks about the fact that Cassius shows up to
all of his crimes after he likes to be there
and everything. So Ben starts studying the crowd
and he sees a man in a brown coat. And once he
sees this guy in the brown coat, the guy in the
brown coat takes off. And so there's a foot chase
to like a maze of a trash heap. You know, this
is like a, This is like a garbage waste area.
There's tons of trash on top of each other. It
creates some, like, it's a maze, essentially,
to get lost in. So Paul tells them to split up
to chase this guy with the brown coat. This is
one of the things I have with this movie. When
Paul tells them to split up, yes, it makes sense
in the standpoint that Paul kind of wants to
kill this guy. At the same time, like Paul being
the CIA veteran agent who thinks that Ben shouldn't
be out in the field because he's too young, too
green, that kind of thing. It doesn't make sense
that he would leave him on his own as that guy,
in my mind. Now, thinking of it in the way of
Cassius slash Paul wants Ben to kind of like
get caught and die. Maybe that's what it is,
that kind of thing. I don't know. Maybe not.
Paul doesn't get to the guy in the brown coat
before Ben does. Now, the guy in the brown coat
does get away. And Paul and Ben kind of reconvene.
And Paul's just like, it's got to be our guy.
It's got to be our guy. You know, trying to deflect
blame. And Ben goes, no, he's not our guy. He
definitely wasn't the guy. I just wanted to arrest
him and see what he knew. So that's it for the
day after Brutus gets murdered. Paul is then
invited over to Ben's house. That's where we
meet Natalie. Natalie is Ben's wife, and she's
played by Odette Annabelle. Annable? Annable,
maybe? Maybe Annable. A -N -N -A -B -L -E. That's
what it is. I don't know. So, Odette has been
in movies like Cloverfield. There's You Again.
She was in 60 episodes of the Walker, Texas Ranger
reboot. 24 episodes of Supergirl. You know, she's
been around, especially like TV. She's been around.
So I don't know if this was a line or not when
Natalie meets Paul, but she says, let us welcome
you to our humble commode. I don't know if that's
what she was meant to say, but that's definitely
what she did say. It didn't make sense in my
mind. I don't know. I wasn't fully focused on
this conversation, but you know. So as they're
coming in, Ben asks, hey, what can I get you
to drink? And Paul says a vodka martini with
an onion. And Ben goes, hey, that's Cassius's
drink. And he basically says, oh, yeah, like
I wanted to get into shoes and I started drinking
them and I kind of like them now. Ben also makes
himself one so that he's kind of thinking like,
oh, yeah, I want to learn about him, too. I want
to get into his shoes. So I'll follow in your
footsteps, which is really Cassius's footsteps.
As they're having this conversation at dinner
and everything like that, we learn why Ben has
put so much of his career into chasing Cassius
and the Cassius Seven. Ben respects Cassius because
he's the best at something. You know, and that's
Ben doesn't feel like he's the best at anything.
And so that's kind of why he's following him.
And Paul tells him not to respect him because
Cassius is a cold blooded killer. And the best
thing he did was disappear. And this is kind
of like a metaphor for himself. He's glad that
he retired and got out of there. And this was
the best thing for him. So Ben, after this conversation,
all of a sudden has to pee. and walks away and
Paul lets Natalie know that Cassius definitely
knows about her husband and he needs to be careful
what he's messing with and is more so through
Natalie trying to get him to drop the case again
again it seems like kind of not exactly takes
a liking to but he just doesn't want to see this
young kid get killed and especially at his own
hand because he doesn't want to blow his cover
so after a wonderful evening like this Uh, Paul
goes home and when he gets there, he notices
that the car that was outside his house watching
him the other day, no longer there. So he's feeling
a little better about it. Maybe they're not like
right on his tail anymore, especially with the
brown coat guy in the wind. Like this could be
the moment where, okay, he can get away with
this because maybe if he finds this brown coat
guy, he can blame him. Say, Hey, I found Cassius.
He's dead. So while Paul's getting a good night's
sleep, let's take a little break. to tell you
about the podcast that guessed the bad movie
first. It is Screen Nerds Podcast that has been
featured on this show before. It is a podcast
for film lovers by film lovers. From quick screen
reviews of new films to re -screen reviews of
favorite films, celebrate them all here with
the Screen Nerds Podcast. Congratulations to
them. You can follow them on x slash twitter
slash whatever at Screen Nerds Pod. They also...
I'm pretty sure are on Blue Sky and Threads.
You know, those other things if X slash Twitter
is not really your thing. It looks like their
last episode was about Juror No. 2, the new Clint
Eastwood film starring Nicholas Holt, Toni Collette,
J .K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland. I have
a lot of interest in that film. I'm probably
going to check it out, and then I will probably
listen to the Screen Nerds podcast talk about
it. So the Screen Nerds podcast, congratulations
to you guys for guessing the double correctly
first as the podcast to guess it first. Shout
out to you. Let's get back to when Paul wakes
up from his nice little sleep with nobody watching
him. So it's the next day and they go back to
the briefing room that was at the start of this
movie, the CIA briefing room, and they get told
about the Russians who snuck across the border.
including Boslowski. Boslowski is a ghost pretty
much, and he's never been caught. And so Paul's
kind of throwing it like, okay, we've got this
Boslowski. You know, there's some times where
there's some overlap. He knows that Boslowski
is part of this and everything like that. So
he starts to convince everyone that Boslowski
is Cassius. So Paul has a lead where he can try
to figure out where this guy is. and so Paul
and Ben go to this project house where Paul goes
into the secret room but Ben isn't allowed in
there and so there's like this long wait you
wait with Ben outside of the room versus Paul
who's like getting the name and so he comes back
out and he gets the name Amber and so Paul has
dealt with Amber before and knows that she's
a prostitute And so Ben like asked him like,
wait, Amber is a prostitute. And Paul goes, if
the Russians use their women instead of missiles,
we'd all be wearing fuzzy hats right now. This
is the best line of the film. Cause it's true.
Let's face it. And especially cause Amber is
stunning. Um, I think I'm saying that right.
Actually. I was like questioning myself. I think
I actually got it this time. Stana Katic, who
you may recognize from Castle. She is the detective
in the Castle series. Gorgeous. Let's just call
it what it is. She is absolutely fantastic looking.
I'm not afraid to say that. She also, besides
playing Kate Beckett in Castle. She also has
played Lois Lane in Superman Unbound. Lots of
voice roles. She's Wonder Woman in a lot of the
DC animated movies. She's definitely going to
the voice role versus like on screen. And she
was also in Quantum of Solace. I forgot that
as well. But yeah, so Stania Kotich is Amber,
the prostitute who is Russian. And so they go
to this trailer park by the river and basically.
Paul gets out first and says, we're looking for
Amber. And her neighbor at first is like, no,
I'm not going to help you or anything like that.
And so then they get told that her trailer is
the closest to the river. So Ben goes into the
trailer and tries to figure out anything slash
find if Amber's there. And Amber sneaks out the
back. And Paul... rushes after her is able to
grab her and like throws her into the river and
holds her at gunpoint and he threatens to shoot
her and dump her in the river but ben convinces
him to let him talk to her paul kind of goes
over the edge and ben's kind of like the good
cop to his bad cop so paul uh lets ben talk to
him uh let's ben talk to her and to like make
a connection with her Ben shows a picture of
his kids and then gives her a phone and says,
can you help us find this Bozlovsky? She calls
Leo. Leo is Amber's brother. Leo is played by
Yuri Sardarov. And Yuri Sardarov, the main thing
you'd recognize him from and the main thing I
know him from is Chicago Fire. He plays Brian
Zavonichek in Chicago Fire and PD and medical,
all of the crossovers, everything like that.
He's also in the movie Argo. He's also in the
Ides of March movie. He's been in a lot of stuff.
He also had a role in FBI International. He was
in two episodes of The Rookie. He's making all
of these stops on these TV shows. and this is
definitely he must have a working connection
with the writers and director because remember
how i said those guys have been writing or executive
producing for chicago pd chicago med that kind
of stuff so this guy has a little bit of he's
worked with them before so leo comes to try to
help amber and when he does he is bombarded by
both ben and paul and basically they are they
say we're looking for bozalowski he goes i can
help you get to him and paul then says he's he's
becoming more and more slightly unhinged paul
says if you're lying i will shoot her in the
head and then you so they hop into a car with
yuri and yuri takes paul and ben to This factory,
like it's an abandoned factory. Paul is following
Yuri in and he tells Ben to watch the door. Again,
this is showing that Paul's trying to get some
separation from Ben. Part of it might be to protect
him. Part of it might be to kill Boslowski and
then say, oh, he pulled the gun on me. He is
Cassius. It's over now. You know, that kind of
thing. Leo takes Paul to this like control room
in the middle of the factory. And wouldn't you
know it, he was true to his word. Boslowski is
there. Paul says to him that he's there because
they think Boslowski is Cassius. And when he
does that, Leo pulls a gun on Paul and has it
at the back of his head. And Boslowski is kind
of like laughing, you know, and he tells him
he becomes Cassius if they need him to be. So
he's been kind of like pretending to be Cassius
when Cassius can't be found. And so he's like
the big guy in charge when they can't find the
actual big guy. So Paul, while being held at
gunpoint, tells Bozlovsky that he is Cassius
and he is able to grab Leo's gun and then fire
at Bozlovsky. Bozlovsky gets away, but Paul pulls
his wire and kills Leo like immediately, one
fell swoop. And because the gunshots have been
fired, Ben hears them and he's trying to run
upstairs and he finds Leo's body. Paul is chasing
after Boslowski, who ends up giving him the slip.
And Paul is trying to decide now if he goes back
or if he keeps going. And so Paul goes and drives
away. Ben, while he's like analyzing Leo's body,
kind of realizes, wait, Leo was killed by a wire.
Is Paul Cassius? Like it's starting to click
all of a sudden, slowly but surely. So he goes
back to his office, brings his buddy Oliver more
in on this, mostly because his buddy is good
at tracking people. That's one of his specialties.
So he reveals to Oliver that he thinks Paul might
be Cassius. This also then goes to Natalie, who
works at the bookshop. And Paul shows up and
basically saves her from falling off a ladder.
So she's like happy to see him and everything
like that. And Paul tells her, like, get Ben
to ask off the case because he's getting very
close to this dangerous man. Again, trying to
get him to drop the case because he knows if
he goes any further, he's going to have to kill
him. Like this is this is too close. He's now
at that point where. If Ben doesn't drop it,
he's going to have to kill Ben. Natalie gets
a little like weirded out by it. but says that
she will tell him to drop the case. Oliver and
Ben have put together this crime board at the
same time, and in all of the pictures of the
Cassius crimes, Paul is in each one. And that's
the logic Ben jumps to about, remember how he
said that Cassius likes to go and revisit all
of his crimes? So Paul being there makes sense.
This is obvious him. But he also was like the
CIA agent in charge of that case. So it's like,
is he really Cassius? Like, this is the question
I'm asking. He's certain. Like, he knows now
that Paul is Cassius. But in my mind, like, he
would be there anyway. Even if he wasn't Cassius,
he'd be there because he's the CIA agent in charge
of the case. So why is this the, like... logic
that he is definitely Cassius I don't know he's
certain now and so now he doesn't know does Paul
know that Ben knows does Ben know that Paul knows
that kind of thing like it's a cat and mouse
game right now so Ben does like an obvious drop
of information that Paul sees and grabs also
Ben then goes home And says his goodbyes to his
family. Says goodbye to Natalie. Says goodbye
to their infant son. He is going to try to finish
this case. And Natalie tries to talk him out
of it. But he's just like, no, I'm too close
now. I need to do this. I need to get it done.
Otherwise, I'm never going to be able to sleep.
That kind of thing. I'm never going to be able
to live with myself. So after he says his goodbyes,
he gets to his car. And on his windshield is
a picture left there. And this picture is of
Paul, this woman, and this child. And so Ben's
just like, who is this? I've got to get back
to the office and do more research. And this
is where he gets to Geneva, 1988. In Geneva,
1988, Boslowski killed Paul's wife and son. And
so Paul created Cassius to get revenge and kill
the seven. So basically he brought like the worst
of the worst together and he was taking them
all out one by one because he wanted revenge
for his wife and son. And one of those people
was supposed to be Boslowski. Ben goes back to
this project house that we got the name Amber
from and he goes in and he figures out where
Paul went. Again, we don't see in this project
house, so who knows what information he gets,
how he gets it, whatever. So Boslowski is at
a port and Paul is watching him. Basically, Bozalowski
is waiting for a shipment to get in. And so Paul,
like, gets caught looking at him. And Bozalowski
gets in a car and they go on this huge car chase.
And it's around the port like over and over and
over again. It's like three or four times around
the port. And the car chase ends with Paul's
car flipping and Bozalowski able to get out and
hold Paul at gunpoint. Because movie has to movie
and we know that Paul's not going to die at this
point. Ben gets there just in the nick of time
to like hold his gun at Bozalowski and shoot
at him. Missing. But he stopped Paul from getting
killed and Bozalowski runs away. Instead of chasing
after him, Ben calls out Paul in the middle of
the port. And they're about to have this big
reveal. You know, Paul is about to reveal. that
he's Cassius to Ben. That's what we think is
the big reveal. No, the big reveal is that the
drop Ben tried to make is a 30 -year -old Soviet
code. And Paul now knows that Ben is a double
agent from Russia and was recently activated.
He was the one that killed the senator to lure
Cassius out. And basically what he was told is
he needs to clear the country out for the new
arrival of spies from Russia. With Cassius alive,
Russia believes that he is going to continue
to kill their spies. So he needed to get Cassius
out and basically clear the way so all these
spies could come from Russia. He also admitted
that he was supposed to capture Cassius and bring
him back to Moscow tonight. Paul's at a disadvantage.
Ben's got the gun and Paul is like injured because
of his car chase and everything like that. Instead
of grabbing Paul. and going to Moscow, Ben decides
that he can convince them that Bozlovsky is Cassius.
Basically, turn the other cheek and say, well,
if we kill Bozlovsky, he is kind of Cassius,
you know, so now they can work together. Team
up, bros. You know, that kind of thing. Bozlovsky
is hurt, and he is cornered in the port. Ben
is looking for him while Paul is looking at the
camera feed to try to figure out where he is.
ben sees like this body down and goes to look
at it but paul sees that bozlovsky is like hiding
in the shadows waiting for him so as soon as
ben gets to a certain level boz is gonna like
jump out paul catches boz's attention but he
does get shot now ben has a chance and he turns
around but he gets kneed in the nuts so ben is
crumpled on the ground Paul, even though he's
been shot and Boz, even though he's injured,
they get into this fist fight. Ben collects his
breath and his gun, but he doesn't shoot Paul,
the real Cassius. And then basically he, he lets
them fight it out. Cause one of these two guys
is probably going to die. And that's the one
he's going to try to convince Russia is Cassius.
So either way, he's going to look like a hero,
you know? So he doesn't shoot. He just holds
the gun up. And Paul is able to wrap his wire
around Boslowski's neck and kill him. Then he
tells Ben to go home. Like you don't have to
go to Russia, go home. And he succumbs to his
wounds and dies. When the group gets there, basically
Ben is like still on the ground kind of thing.
But he's able to explain how the wire came out
of the watch. However. What we didn't see him
do and what didn't happen on camera is Ben was
able to switch the watch from Paul's wrist to
Bozalowski's. So he's able to convince most of
the people that Bozalowski is Cassius. Hyland
is definitely skeptical. He definitely is like,
no, this doesn't make sense. Instead of digging
deeper, I think he was kind of like, OK, with
the fact that, look, both of them are dead. I'd
rather just let Paul be a hero. And not dig any
deeper. So Ben says they were, Buzlovsky was
waiting for a ship and they go explore it. And
basically there's just a ton of weapons that
were on the ship, like a ton. So all these Russian
spies were going to get all these weapons and
everything like that. So Ben's a hero. He saved
the day. He killed Cassius, who they think is
Bozalowski. The real Cassius is dead. Now he
needs to figure out what he's going to do. Is
he going to go to Moscow and tell them that Cassius
is dead? Or is he going to go back to his family?
As he's walking away, Hyland turns and asks him
if he would work for the CIA. Because remember,
he's FBI. But it also is very unclear. It seems
more so like Hyland's asking him, do you want
to work for the Americans versus like the Russians?
Like he's offering him this life in America versus
with the Russians. And maybe I'm reading way
into this movie. I don't know if this is actually
what it was or anything like that. It's very
unclear. But that's the way I took it was that
he was offering him a chance to work with the
Americans. He kind of pieced together that he
was Russian. So maybe that was the chance. I
don't know. So he says, maybe I'll let you know
tomorrow. And though he's a Russian double agent
and everything like that, Ben decides he likes
his life. He goes back to Natalie and his newborn
and everything like that. So he is, at least
for now, going to stay on American soil. The
end. So that's the double. Um, like I said, I
have a conversation starter about this, but first
I'll get the important stuff out of the way.
Um, one out of five, that's what I got. One out
of five, like wires from watch kind of thing.
Is it awful? No. Is it life changing? No. Um,
Richard gear, especially he went like the subtle
route in this and then toe for grace is kind
of just toe for gracing. Um, you know, it's not,
it's not Shakespeare. It's not, like this super
intense political thriller but it was fine enough
uh i i think what definitely ruins part of it
is revealing that ben is also a secret agent
you know also like a double agent and that the
reason he did his master's thesis was to draw
him out of hiding to get to the fbi he killed
the senator like that kind of stuff it just doesn't
make a lot of sense um fine whatever i mean like
i'm willing to suspend that overall it could
have been worse i definitely have it in the realm
of movies like edison that i've watched for this
podcast edison was not great but there are much
worse movies out there so i think i think this
was fine i don't think this is life change i
don't think this is anything that's like oh yeah
you should definitely watch this movie um But
overall, it was fine. So I'll say one out of
five wires out of a watch, that kind of thing.
My thought and what I wanted to start this conversation
was about this. I liked the idea that we knew
very early on that Paul was Cassius. Obviously,
they didn't feel comfortable enough with that.
So they did the second twist that Ben was also
a double agent. But I liked the idea if there
was no other twist, just if Ben just learned
that Paul was Cassius, I think that was better
for the movie overall. And I liked the idea that
we kind of knew ahead of time. And so some of
these things that he was doing, you kind of had
more of like a question towards him. You know,
it was kind of like, OK, is he telling Ben to.
split up because he's trying to protect him or
is it because he really does want him to get
killed and then and he doesn't want that blood
on his hands like he thinks he's scot -free because
the guy in the brown coat killed him you know
that kind of thing um overall i think that worked
a lot better for this movie and i wanted to bring
up the fact I don't know if that could work with
a lot of movies. I think it would have worked
really well for this movie if they would have
done it that way instead, where they didn't need
a second twist like that. I think the biggest
part of the climax was supposed to be Ben figuring
out that Paul was Cassius. And truthfully, it
was. It was a big point in that movie where all
of a sudden he kind of realizes. And even though
I told you I had my grapes about the fact that,
yes. Paul would have been at these scenes anyway,
so why did that automatically make him Cassius?
I don't know if that was a big deal, but I think
it was a very cool moment when he finally realizes,
yeah, I might be working with the bad guy. So
I like that idea. I thought that was a great
idea. I want to know from you guys that are listening
to this, do you know of any other movies that
do stuff like that where you know very early
on? I think it works. I really do. It does make
it kind of feel like a procedural crime show
a little bit where you know the bad guy, but
the main characters don't know. But at the same
time, I think it worked for this movie. Even
though Richard Gere's performance was kind of
a little hollow and a little bit more subtle,
and I don't think it worked very well. uh it
does also add a little drama with these scenes
where like leo takes him to meet bozlovsky and
bozlovsky doesn't know that he's cassius and
that's another thing bozlovsky doesn't know that
he's cassius you know that kind of thing so it
does add a little drama to this because like
to them they're going this guy's not cassius
and then all of a sudden he's whipping around
shooting at you with leo's gun and then kills
leo With a wire from his. Watch you know so.
I think it worked. In this aspect. Of like revealing
this early. I know sometimes. A lot of movies
that's not going to be the case. But for me that
worked in this one. I want to know. If you guys
think that. More movies should try this. Do you
think this is a good idea. I don't know if it's
a good idea for all movies. But certain movies
maybe. There's certain movies that come to mind
immediately that I think it was better that you
didn't know. But then there's also some movies
that I think it would be kind of better if you
did know. The one that's stuck in my head right
now is Mission Impossible Fallout. Spoiler alert
if you haven't seen it. Henry Cavill being a
double agent kind of thing. I actually think
it might work with that movie. Even though Fallout
was great the way it was, I think it could have
worked either way. so I don't know that's that's
my idea with this one I I'm trying to think of
other movies where I think it could have worked
like that so overall that's my thoughts on this
like this is the conversation I wanted to have
that I think it worked for this one in particular
I'm trying to find something positive about this
movie like this to talk about because like I
can focus on all the bad everything about it
um but the good from this I think that other
things could take from this was revealing early
on that Paul was the double agent. They shot
themselves on the foot by making Ben a double
agent as well. And like the performances aren't
the best, but you know, it's, it could have been
a lot worse. That's what I'll say. So, um, yeah,
that's my thoughts on the double. If you guys
have seen this, let me know. Are there other
bad political thrillers that I should include
later on in the show, especially when it comes
to November like this? There's going to be more
election days, that kind of thing. But yeah,
so that's my thoughts on The Double. Could have
been worse, could have been better. Could have
been a lot of things. So, you know, is it a good
movie? No. Is it the worst thing? No. I definitely...
I'm not going to watch it again, but if you haven't
seen it and you want to watch it, I think you
could watch it and find something enjoyable out
of it. Is it amazing? No, but you could find
something that you'd find enjoyable about it.
I think there's a lot of things about it that
it did pretty okay. The big thing being that
we knew he was Cassius from the start. I think
that was good overall. I like the idea of the
Cassius 7, that whole... cell of Russian spies
that are modeled after the Roman assassins of
Caesar. I think that's a good idea. I almost
wish we would have seen more of that, though,
because really all we saw was Baslovsky getting
killed and then Brutus. And that's really it.
Like, we really didn't see anything more than
that. And I think that would have been kind of
fun, too, to see, even if it was flashback. I'm
normally not a flashback guy. But I think to
see how Cassius handled each of these guys, or
at least some of them, like one or two more,
you know, the power of three, where we see three
of these seven get killed. I think that would
have been kind of fun to see as well. Just to
give you more detail about Paul slash Cassius's
mission, like why he did the things he did. It
was revenge, but it also was so that nobody knew
who he was. Nobody could trace it back to him,
that kind of thing. I don't know. That's, that's
my thoughts on the double. Um, yeah. So if you
guys have thoughts, hit us up anywhere. We're
on blue sky and threads. Now we're on a hive
social, even though I don't think that one's
taking off as much, but we're on there as well.
So you can find us anywhere at game for a movie.
Yeah. So use the hashtag G fam. If you're wanting
to get in on the conversation, we can find you
that way as well. So hashtag G fam. And yeah,
we will see you guys next time on the Game for
a Movie podcast where we ask, are you game for
a movie? I've been Mike, your host. You have
listened to me talk about the double from 2011.
And we will see you next time. Unless we're a
Russian spy and we need to get back to Moscow.
Or not. Double agent. Bye.