To me, the best Ripley film is “The American Friend,” also based on “Ripley’s Game,” and Dennis Hopper is my favorite Ripley. It’s not entirely faithful to the book, but I’ll take quality over fidelity any day, and it’s got better acting, writing, style, and atmosphere than any other film featuring the character. “Purple Noon,” the earlier version of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with Alain Delon as Ripley, is also terrific, despite a cop-out ending.

“Ripley’s Game” with John Malkovich is very good and more faithful to the book, which I’m sure purists enjoy, but it feels too stale and lacking in style for me. Malkovich never seems to show more than one emotion, and he’s upstaged in every scene by Ray Winstone. Still, it manages to be entertaining enough, better than the sum of its parts.

Regarding the sexuality of Ripley, he’s only gay in the Matt Damon film. In the novels and other films, he’s technically bisexual, since he’s clearly attracted to both genders, but he can more accurately be described as asexual, since sex of any kind rarely interests him.

I thought this movie was very different from The Talented Mr. Ripley. This movie has a much more estranged feel to it; indeed, nihilistic. The detached playing of Malkovic comes across a rountinely, but serves the atmosphere well. A much as the story goed, there is less of it than in the first movie.

I also was confused about the Ripley-character. I thought I was sure to see Ripley as a self-repressed homosexual in the first fil, or at least someone who was very ambiguous about his sexuality. In this movie it was apparently sorted out, as Ripley is married to a woman. Is this another example of Hollywood’s uptight attitude towards depicting homosexuality? Is Ripley gay? Or did he feel something for John? There is a reference to Ripley being gay in this movie, just like Ray Winstone’s character (and a hint of the two having been lovers).

That could’ve done with some more clarity.