When Jude Law announced his intention to reprise Michael Caine’s role as Hoagie Newcombe in Jaws 4: The Revenge, the elder British actor decided to take matters into his own hands

The original 1972 version of Sleuth had the distinction of being the first film in which the entire cast was nominated for best actor Oscars. Of course, when you consider that cast consisted of Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine playing two men involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse, it comes as little surprise.

Based on Anthony Shaffer’s long-running stage thriller, Sleuth is the kind of story that is ripe for remaking, and 35 years later it finally has been. With a new screenplay by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter and direction by Kenneth Branagh, this update certainly had promise. Add to that Jude Law and Michael Caine facing off in the lead roles and Sleuth has the potential to be a razor-sharp mindbender. Sadly, after you get past the postmodern casting choices, the rest is rather dry.

Caine, taking on the role he didn’t play in the original, is novelist Andrew Wyke, a quick-witted man who is looking to play a deadly game with the man that is sleeping with his wife. In counterpoint, Law plays Milo Tindle, a young actor who has made off with Wyke’s wife. Played by Caine in the original, this is the second time Law has reprised one of Caine’s parts on film, the first being 2004’s Alfie. Admittedly this has little to do with the merits of Sleuth version 2.0, but it does prove to be the most interesting aspect of the film.

In reworking the classic theatrical two-hander, Branagh fails to make it cinematic. For the most part, Sleuth plays out in extended wide shots, which may allow audiences to revel in the unedited performances by the two leads, but it makes for bone-dry, try-hard staging. Judging from his new version, Branagh’s idea of updating the story means modernizing the sets. Dressing Wyke’s tricked-out country home with minimalist designs and cool blue light is one thing, but having much of the film’s action play out with unrealistic security camera footage is something else. When Branagh finally forgoes proscenium staging for conventional cinematic close-ups and reverse angles, Sleuth doesn’t have time to recover.

Instead of redressing the set, Branagh should have worked harder to alleviate the strain put on the script at the midway point. One plot device in particular, integral to the plot as it may be, requires a Herculean suspension of disbelief that even strong performances by Caine and Law can’t make up for.

As the story builds to a climax, the plot twists and reversals come with greater frequency, but none of them are particularly convincing. When the final showdown between Wyke and Tindle does play out, it’s overblown and anticlimactic. As a thriller, Sleuth is lacking in excitement. When all is said and done, the greatest mystery is why a film so ripe with talent is so disappointing.