Can a young FBI analyst catch a Soviet serial killer before becoming his next victim?

In “The Double,” out this week on DVD, a U.S. Senator is assassinated in a style unique to a Soviet Cold War-era serial killer dubbed “Cassius.” Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere) was the premier authority on Cassius back in the day and insists that Cassius is dead. Gere’s character is teamed up with Ben Geary (Topher Grace), a novice FBI analyst who has spent his entire career studying Cassius and is convinced the cagey assassin has returned.

Together they set out to track Cassius, assuming he’s still alive, before the killer strikes again. Will Geary discover the secret Shepherdson is keeping before Cassius can escape or come after him?

“The Double” conjures up all sorts of questions considering the premise of the movie and its title: double agent? double cross? However “The Double” is more of a psychological thriller than a spy movie or suspenseful mystery. The major twist/reveal happens in the first 30 minutes, which was initially disappointing. But the suspense of whether or not Cassius will be caught is carried throughout the rest of the movie so well that the patient viewer doesn’t feel robbed of a denouement.

Gere and Grace make an excellent team, sharing the spotlight with balance and only trying to outshine the other in understatement. Gere in particular is very convincing as the steely-eyed Shepherdson and at times downright scary.

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Last fall, a small, unheralded movie called Fireproof (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn) arrived in theatres and became a huge surprise hit and among the most profitable movies ever made (at least according to budget-to-gross ratio). Now that the film will be released on DVD this Tuesday (January 27), I thought it was worth revisiting the mysterious recipe for the movie’s success.

“I’m not impressed with Hollywood in general. They don’t make a lot of movies that lift our standards and morality.” That’s what director Alex Kendrick told me in a telephone interview on the Monday after his new movie Fireproof generated a downright shocking $6.5 million opening weekend. Despite never being on more than 839 screens, the little Christian-themed indie released on September 26 finished its theatrical run with a stunning $33.4M in ticket sales. Los Angeles and New York are filled with talented film professionals, who spend countless hours and millions upon millions of dollars making movies. The cost of development, production, a director, actors and marketing make the craft of filmmaking prohibitive. So how did a little church in Georgia score a legitimate box office hit?

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