The elegant, engaging, mysterious and full of very good performances, The Two Faces of January, transports us to a glamorous vacation in Greece, vacation that was far from becoming a nightmare.

The glamorous and charismatic American millionaire Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) is in Athens with his young and beautiful wife Colette (Kristen Dunst) for a luxury holiday. They met the also American tourist guide Rydal (Oscar Isaac) who quickly becomes fascinated with the beauty of Colette. Impressed with their extravagant life, Rydal, accepts an invitation to dinner and the couple quickly realize that both men have very similar convictions in life. Both ambitious, greedy and hide secrets.

The Two Faces of January is a very well constructed thriller, which despite being fairly simple in terms of history, can be very intelligent. We managed to find similarities with the films of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock and even can say that this can perfectly be a tribute to his brilliant work. The fact that it is so "Hitchcockian" certainly gives it a special glow. Suspense, intrigue, lies, and dangerous revelations with an atmosphere of paranoia and claustrophobia, always work well with the necessary intensity to every moment. The film beautifully portrays the era of the 60's and also has a beautiful cinematography.

With regard to interpretation is undoubtedly Viggo Mortensen that stands out most in this film and manages to convince, because he demonstrate a deep, calm, very subtle and refined man, but also shows a feeling of anger and frustration when necessary. The beautiful Kristen Dunst and Oscar Isaac also talented, both have great performances, gradually exploring the virtues and flaws of their characters with small and interesting details that show what each one is, and when I say that, the same applies to the performance of Viggo Mortensen, which is very well supported by these two.

A great thriller about two men who destiny crossed, they quickly discover they have more in common than what they expected. Two complete strangers who realize they want exactly the same in life. A coincidence of fate that function as a reflection of the future.

"Chester" (Viggo Mortensen) and wife "Colette" (Kirsten Dunst) are holidaying in Athens when they encounter the charismatic guide "Rydal" (Oscar Isaac). After a pleasant evening together, the couple return to their hotel where he is accosted by a private detective who subsequently has an accident! "Rydal" makes a visit to their hotel and is soon embroiled in the disposal of the body and in a scheme that will get them fake passports and out of the country. Meantime, as is obvious from the start, the guide is completely smitten with "Colette" and as that relationship starts to smoulder, it causes the husband to get rattled and for both men to become increasingly wary of each other. It's quite well cast this, but somehow the thing never quite catches fire. It's rather wordy at times and the mysterious intrigues and the sexual chemistry elements are rather undercooked by Hossein Amini as the story starts to drift into the well trammelled lines of a mediocre romantic drama. Individually, there is charisma a-plenty on screen, but rarely at the same time from Dunst and Isaac which is a shame given the importance of their relationship to the plot. Filmed on location so the cinematography and the light are gorgeous, it's just a shame the story falls well short.