Directed by Deon Taylor and starring Michael Ealy and Hilary Swank, ‘Fatale’ is a crime-thriller film now available in Australian cinemas. The movie tells the story of how a one-night stand turned a man’s life completely upside down.

Michael Ealy stars as Derrick Tyler, a former college basketball star who now runs a successful sports management agency in Los Angeles with his closest friend Rafe Grimes (Mike Colter), representing African-American athletes. Unfortunately, his marriage with Tracie (Damaris Lewis) hasn’t been as successful lately and the two continue to drift apart. Derrick has suspicions that Tracie might be having an affair and while on a business trip in Las Vegas with Rafe, is convinced by him that it’s only fair that he has an affair of his own.

While contemplating this, he meets an attractive woman (Hilary Swank) at the bar of a nightclub, makes some small talk, dances together, and ends up in her hotel room. After saying their goodbyes the next morning and assuming they’ll never see each other again, Derrick feeling regretful and guilty, returns home and decides to try to fix his marriage and be a better husband to Tracie, maybe even start a family, but doesn’t say a word about what happened that night in Vegas. However, their romantic night at home soon gets interrupted by a home invader, who Derrick luckily manages to fight off.

After the police arrive, Derrick and Tracie are introduced to the detective assigned to the case, Valerie Quinlan. After Valerie and Derrick make eye contact, they immediately recognise each other from that night in Vegas. From there, things become even more complicated for Derrick, as he fears that Valerie might expose him to his wife and the media. After they meet privately, Derrick and Valerie agree to keep their secret to themselves, as they both have reputations to uphold and that Valerie will do her job as a detective and help solve this case. Some of Valerie’s personal life is then revealed, such as how her daughter became wheelchair-bound due to her negligence, which led to her ex-husband gaining full custody over her and getting a restraining order against Valerie, deeming her to be an unfit mother.

Despite having no rights to legally see them, Valerie continues to stalk her ex-husband and still hopes to one day be part of her daughter’s life again. This unhealthy obsession soon gets mixed up with her detective work and even though she finds actual leads on Derrick’s case, Valerie decides to use him for her own hidden agenda and uses their one-night stand as blackmail, among other things that happen later in the movie. This leads to a series of shocking events that puts Derrick’s already complicated life into huge turmoil.

Both Michael Ealy and Hilary Swank portray their roles as the main characters incredibly well. Michael really shows his character development going from a successful businessman to a broken, confused, and paranoid man who’s lost everything, with nowhere to go, not knowing who to trust, and wondering if this is all worth it. Seeing him in a vulnerable and unstable state really shows a different side to Michael Ealy’s acting work. Hilary’s performance is definitely the most interesting part of the film, as she’s more known to play good guy roles, so it’s really interesting to see her play a villain for a change. Her portrayal of a seemingly trustworthy detective, whose traumatic past clouds her judgment, makes the very likable Hilary Swank the perfect fit for the role.

The movie does a great job to show the highly skilled detective work of Valerie, which also becomes Derrick’s worst nightmare. Because of her expertise, she’s able to find evidence, hide evidence and even create false evidence against Derrick, which doesn’t leave him with many options to prove his innocence. It just seems that no matter what he does, the manipulative and methodical Detective Valerie is always several steps ahead of him. The story will have many plot twists and turns to keep audiences in suspense to see what happens next.

The film does share a lot of similarities with the 1987 classic ‘Fatal Attraction’, a movie that also shows how a one-night stand can ruin someone’s life. There have also been many other movies with similar concepts, but what helps ‘Fatale’ stand out from the rest is definitely its unique villain, whose detective experience is her greatest weapon.

Hilary Swank’s work as the terrifying, cerebral, and dangerous Detective Valerie Quinlan really shows her versatility as an actress, and audiences will see that she isn’t one to be taken lightly. Of course, none of that would’ve been possible without the work of Michael Ealy as Derrick Tyler, who goes from a successful businessman about to lose it all, to becoming petrified even at the very sight of his one-night lover. Their chemistry on screen together is truly something to admire, and it’s very difficult to explain what makes this movie worth watching without giving away all the big plot twists. All we can say is ‘Fatale‘ is a must-see for fans of the crime-thriller genre. What happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

Written by: Sammy Hanson