Second to Die (2002) Reviews

• One Of Paul Winfield's Last Movies

  FilmNoirOnline2007-06-26

  An interesting thriller that has Paul Winfield as a detective on the case of a murder. Paul Winfield was an underrated actor who pulled off all his roles with such ease, it was hard to tell the man was even acting. Maybe most known by younger viewers as the voice/narrator of "City Confidential", Winfield ends his career with a so-so movie; but as always, Winfield shines. A treat to watch. Erika Eliniak is well, Erika Eliniak, nice to look at but leaves a lot to be desired in the acting department. Though, to be fair, this is one of her better efforts. Bottom line: a watchable thriller that shouldn't be missed by any Paul Winfield fan. A decent telefilm to help send Paul Winfield off to celluloid heaven. What an actor. He will be missed.

• Interesting Thriller

  archive12002-07-23

  I have to give Erica Eleniac credit: she really is trying hard to shed her early career as 'eye candy' and take on more challenging and serious roles. Hollywood being what it is, she still spends a lot of time in this movie scantilly clad...but also delivers a performance of real depth as a party girl who married for money only to find herself trapped in a loveless marriage. When she starts to plot to have her husband killed, things start to go terribly wrong. The movie uses an unusual framing devise in having the action related in a series of flashbacks from the dead woman's diary as it is being read by her younger sister (also Eleniak). Paul Winfield also delivers a solid performance as an aging cop, somewhat similar to that of Gene Hackman's aging cop in the movie 'Falling Down'. While not exactly a masterpiece, and utilizing plot devises that have cropped up many times in other movies, the quality of the cast and the dead-on solid performance by Eleniak combine to lift this film over its B-movie cliches!Recomended

• Slow beginning, Wow!! Nice ending

  pezhman762002-05-31

  This movie was boring in the beginning, you just want the movie to end. But actually it got more and more interesting and had a very nice ending. The acting was not so good and I have seen movies with similar histories. Anyway I give it a 6/10. Watch it if u like thriller.

• Almost watchable

  dusan-222009-09-01

  This would be a watchable Hollywood mediocre if it had a good editing. It relies on the typical American thriller plot - "who is going to outsmart everyone". Acting is below average, but with shining appearance of the detective who is the best actor in the film and he is mostly responsible if the tension in the film rises. Film was completely suffocated by blank video and sound shots and most of it looks like raw film material. All in all, if you don't mind watching a movie that looks like a student film project, this is a film to watch. I guess that would be enough to say on this film, everything else could really spoil the tension that is probably low enough.

• A nice little movie with some surprises

  headhunter462006-08-08

  Possible spoilers but I'll be careful not to ruin the plot. This movie had me guessing toward the end. I think the cast did quite well with the script and none were obviously "acting". This was the best performance by Erika I have seen to date and I hold out hope that she can learn to really "become" the person she is portraying. I think she has potential. The guy who played the cruel Jim was absolutely, believably rotten to our heroine. He and Grady the older detective were the two in this movie that did the best job in my opinion. I despised Jim for the way he treated his wife, but now I realize its because he really acted the part well. The ending left the viewer to do some of their own brain work and for me that was a bit of a let down. Maybe I'm weird but I like clean endings so you know what really became of the characters. A few of them were left for you to figure out. For that I deducted one point. Write your own ending...................