As a director, John McTiernan turns the clever script into a visual feast. No doubt, his wonderful success in the action genre allows him to find the rhythm that keeps the story just enough ahead to keep us intrigued, yet close enough to engage our minds and emotions. Accompanied by a sizzling soundtrack, his camera is always in the right place, never failing to give us the most intimate angle.

Although a mystery, the who-done-it and the eventual outcome of the story are plain. Bubbling originality and wit come from how the whole thing is actually pulled of. Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) steals a prized Monet early on. The cops are flummoxed because this kind of crime is clearly beyond the scope of Det. McCann’s (Denis Leary) normal beat. Onto the scene swoops insurance super investigator Catherine Banning (Rene Russo), who in quick order pegs Crown as the thief.

Crown is more than ingenious, and proving that he is the crook will require even greater finesse. He toys with everyone because life is a game, which can never be quite exciting enough. Crown’s motive, which quickly proves to be the challenge of doing it and getting away with it, intrigues and attracts Catherine. To draw him out, she plays a mind game tinged with seduction and menace as well as with "Sherlock Holmes" logic.

In many ways, Catherine and Thomas are much alike. Her disregard for rules, privacy, and police procedures sets her apart from her police partners not only as powerful and clever, but also as a lone player with impenetrable defenses. Thomas is disengaged from people, from his business, and from interest in what life has to offer him. We would never know the effect Catherine is having on him from the obvious outward signs. He is too much of a poker player to expose his hand, but we get hints in his aloof sessions with his shrink, played with tongue-in-cheek wit by Faye Dunaway who played Catherine in the 1968 original of this movie.

The seduction sequences offer variety and sizzle as well as poetic sensitivity. Catherine interrupts Thomas at a posh party, vanquishing a svelte beauty that seems to be her rival as his dance partner. She wows us and him with seductive dance moves in a shimmering see through dress. The two soon prove they know how to perform sexually, snaking up the stairs entwined and then into his posh bedroom for a playful gin soaked romp. We get much satisfaction from seeing naked bodies sexually engrossed amongst the art of his exquisite home.

Something shifts, however, as these two deepen their involvement in their coupling and the cat-and-mouse game. At his Island hideaway, they flow from raw passion to intimacy. They lie naked on the bed, both face down, she on top of him, their bodies forming undulating curves while they talk, her mouth to his ear. A glimpse of soul sharing breaks in between these two power players.

Indeed, the movie is not really about art, theft, or even sophisticated living, but about two people who live complex lives of power, manipulation, and brilliance and who ultimately want a relationship with another of similar worldly sophistication and depth. They have mastered the world of money and accomplishment, and now they crave a relationship of profound connection.

In an ironic twist on a good-bad moral level, the theft is never what it appeared to be. It was always sport, never real larceny. We are delighted that in the end, the only game Thomas Crown must win is the fight for Catherine’s heart. As detached and cool as he seems, he gives her tenderness and, above all, freedom to act and love out of her power.

Detective McCann adds a clever counterpoint to the chase. We can’t help feeling sorry for him for not ever quite catching up with Catherine while at the same time being fascinated by her. He is truly a good man, yet not the right man for her as much as he would like to be. What a remarkable payoff for his character at the end, and what a stunning achievement by Denis Leary. He is one of the great character actors we can’t quite see enough of.

The clever billionaire has been played out many, many times before, and Brosnan does a good job here, but in the current Hollywood climate of the ingénue, it is a rare treasure to see the sophisticated, intelligent, mature woman get the guy. Go Russo!

A Note about the Soundtrack

Craig kept humming "The Windmills of Your Mind" until Anna-Maria finally bought him the soundtrack. Wow! The spirit of the movie flows out with every note. The passion for life that Thomas and Catherine carried across the screen is with us once more with all of their precision, wit, and insatiability.