‘The Chameleon’ is based loosely on true events surrounding a missing American teenager whom four years later turns up in France. Sounds really interesting right? It is, if you watch the documentary ‘The Imposter’ however this film plays loose with the facts and normally that wouldn’t bother be, what bothers me is that the film seems to be an exercise in mediocrity.
The actual story that the film is based on is fascinating and is like a real life film noir, this film however overly dramatised the events and instead of the “hero” of the story being a lone rogue private investigator, as was true in the real story, instead it changes that to the bland, procedural FBI agent with something to prove. Which has been done to death and is no different here than in any generic FBI or police thriller.
The acting all round is serviceable, everyone gives fine performances but no one stands out and really grabs your attention. On that note the directing style is very simplistic and straight-forward, not a single risk taken, every scene framed the same, nothing stands out as being especially beautiful or even inventive.
The film felt like it was made as a TV film or even straight-to-DVD with very little production values, a story that on the surface is interesting but as soon as you break the surface it is just a sea of mediocrity. Which I absolutely hate, i hate when a film is so average that it leaves me nothing to say about it except that you should not waste your time with such a bland and average film, you will take nothing away from it and you will lose 90 minutes of your life.
This film is bland and ridiculously average but it is by no means bad, it’s just a chasm of a film, you will not become attached to any of the characters, you will just want the film to end. If however the story does interest you, then I highly recommend that you go and watch the documentary ‘The Imposter’ it is superb and one of my favourite documentaries, just don’t waste your time on this bland film.
5/10
