Ripley: A new take on Ripley is rendered in monochrome giving it a sinister tinge of Noir. Largely faithful to Patricia Highsmith's creation it does however make tings clear from the outset that Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) is no innocent abroad as we see him dragging a body down a stairs observed by a cat, Luigio, who inadvertently (?) becomes Tom's accomplice. Fade to six months earlier in New York where Tom is running low level scams, living in a tenement. He is mistaken for a friend of the absent Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and is hired by Dickie's wealthy father to convince him to return home from Italy. Tom travels to Arani, outside of Naples where he visits Dickie, pretending to have met him previously. He enters the life of Greenleaf and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning), both are aspiring artistes with little talent, Dickie a painter, Marge a writer, they do however possess the means to play out comfortable lifestyles. Marge is suspicious of Tom, thinking that he is a parasite, she is also jealous of his bromance with Dickie. A friend of Dickie, Freddie Miles (Eliot Sumner) also questions Ripley's motives. In the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tom was more motivated by wanting to fit in and his resulting violence was driven by jealousy. Here Ripley is more of a conman from the outset and while he does value Dickie's friendship he has always had his eye on Greenleaf's remittance cheques. His violence thus is more cold and calculating rather than impulsive or opportunistic. He always is prepared for violence though when there's a risk of his plans going awry. Scott is impressive as the sociopathic Ripley who is not a pathological liar, every untruth advances his agenda. Good performances from Flynn and Fanning but Sumner doesn't convince as Miles, a role in which Philip Seymour Hoffman excelled in the 1999 film. John Malkovich who played Ripley in Ripley's Game (2002) has a cameo as an art critic. The series was created, written and directed by Steven Zaillian. Eight episodes on Netflix. 9/10.
