Review: Art of Deception (2019)

Secrets, everyone has them. The married couple in Art of Deception has a big one. In this thriller from Director Richard Ryan, Joseph Markham and his wife Valentina get caught up in a global conspiracy involving a deadly virus, the cure for the virus, and a microchip. Joseph works for the C.I.A. When he discovers one of the projects he has been working on is actually part of a secret plot of the C.I.A.’s Deputy Director to take over the world, he decides to fight back. The Director has Valentina kidnapped and tries to discredit Joseph in an effort to keep his global domination plan a secret. Little does he know that Joseph and Valentina have a secret of their own that will make it very difficult for the organization to enact their plans.

Art of Deception is an ambitious film that is part Tom Clancy political thriller, part Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and lots of action. Ryan manages to use the concept of secrecy to his advantage. The sets are fairly sparse, using just enough props to let the audience know what the setting is supposed to be. Things are kept inconspicuous, something a secret organization would want. The bad guy’s plot is also pretty straight forward, giving us just enough details to understand the threat they pose. It is in the action scenes where Art of Deception is the strongest. The scenes are tension filled and sharply choreographed. They are not complex but still look really good for a small budget action movie. ​

The performances of our leads are solid as well. Richard Ryan is pulling double duty by being in front of the camera as Joseph Markahm. He was a believable fighter and held his own in the stunt filled scenes. The relationship between Joseph and wife Valentina also felt like a real loving couple. This connection is helped with the solid performance of Jackie Nova as Valentina. She gets a chance to show off her action skills, and I enjoyed this pairing.  I also enjoyed Leon van Wass as Deputy Director Roland Smith. He plays the desperate bad guy to a tee and was fun to watch. Another fun character is the Deputy Director’s sociopath for hire Agent Vaughn, played by Andrew Miller. He was a very formidable and scary character. ​

The cinematography was sharp. You could see everything going on in the well edited action scenes. There is also a beautifully shot dream sequence that involves Joseph wandering a snow covered field. He is eventually joined by Valentina who is wearing all white. It is a surprisingly surreal moment in an otherwise straight-forward story. It helped give a break from the action and added another layer to the Joseph character. There was also great use of shadows in the opening sequence that helped set the tone of things to come. ​

There are a few things that I wish would have been handled better with the Joseph character. They set him up as a very intelligent scientist but for as knowledgeable and worldly as his character is, I found it hard to believe he didn’t realize the connection between the three things he had been working on. I also was hoping there would be a better showdown between Joseph and Vaughn than what we got. 
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Everyone putting their all in both in front and behind the camera helps elevate Art of Deception above other similar films. While there is not much new here, Act of Deception is a fun watch if you enjoy small budget action films.