The Good Liar

I thought I was done with the movies this year. Then this movie finally started screening on GSC's International Screens. 

From IMDb...

Consummate con man Roy Courtnay has set his sights on his latest mark: the recently widowed Betty McLeish, worth millions. But this time, what should have been a simple swindle escalates into a cat-and-mouse game with the ultimate stakes.

I had been waiting for awhile now for The Good Liar to be in the cineplex. I didn't even know that it was based on a debut novel, which I would say is not too shabby for the author (Nicholas Searle), who only started writing later in life.

• First of all, I dunno how Sir Ian and Dame Helen have NEVER been in a movie together all these years. HOW?! 
• Enjoyed Russell Tovey as the "grandson"
• I'm glad they showed her actual grandson's parents (in case people were confused why is there a black guy in this movie) towards the end...?
• The old peepur fight scene was kinda hard to watch. 

It's a long con that ended up being a vengeance movie (kinda). Build up to the denouenment was a bit long for something that's under 2 hours. In a movie like this, there had to be a twist (wasn't a terrible one). Otherwise it's just a geriatric con job movie. There's also scenes of graphic violence (is it considered elder abuse?), whoda thunk that they would have a fight scene to do?

I thought it was okay, but I don't know if the book reads any better, so I don't know how faithful an adaptation this is. 

Dunno how long it's gonna be in GSC, but I would suggest watching it as soon as you can. Or watch it elsewhere..?

NB. The novel this movie is based on might not have its own Wikipedia article, but the movie does, so if you don't want to know what happens beforehand, don't read it. But if you don't, then you might not see the signs of the twist in the buildup.