San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Review: 'The Devil's Double'

If only 10 percent of the events depicted in "The Devil's Double" are true, Uday Hussein, eldest son of Saddam Hussein, was more sadistic and evil than even Hollywood screenwriters could have imagined. Based on the memoirs of Latif Yahia, this film features an outstanding, award-worthy performance by Dominic Cooper in two key roles.

Cooper plays Latif Yahia, a loyal Iraqi soldier recruited by Uday Hussein in 1987 to become his "fiday" (body-double). In reality, the job is more like becoming a human target or bullet-catcher. Yahia will impersonate Saddam's eldest son at certain functions and, in return, have full access to the palace, Uday's wardrobe, and any women that Uday has not selected for himself.

Yahia wants nothing to do with the Hussein family, but Uday convinces him with beatings, imprisonment, and threats of violence against Latif's family. After countless medical exams and some surgeries, a reluctant Latif is ready to play his part.

For the former soldier, life in the palace is eye-opening. Uday is like a big child with an entire country serving as his playground. Indulging in drugs, booze, and women, Uday also is a walking time bomb who has made plenty of enemies. He isn't above kidnapping young schoolgirls for his pleasure, plying them with drugs and alcohol before discarding them.

Violent and disturbing, "The Devil's Double" is a brilliant piece of filmmaking from director Lee Tamahori ("Die Another Day") and screenwriter Michael Thomas. Using Yahia's autobiography as a reference, Tamahori turns the clock back to the late 1980s, a time when Uday Hussein was acting out his personal mobster fantasies.

Rising to the challenge, Dominic Cooper actually plays three roles in "The Devil's Double." As Latif Yahia, Cooper embodies honor, courage, and devotion to his family. When in character as Uday, Cooper plays the part of a drunken womanizer to perfection. Because these characters are polar opposites, it sometimes is hard to believe that Cooper is playing both men.

Cooper's third role, and arguably the best, is Latif impersonating Uday. With only a dental appliance and some tousled hair, Cooper easily shifts between Uday and Latif, but Cooper also changes his posture to create a startling physical transformation as well. While Latif always stands tall and proud, Cooper turns Uday into a twisted man obsessed with carnal pleasures.

Dominic Cooper is getting some buzz for playing inventor Howard Stark in the new "Captain America" movie, but his exceptional work in "The Devil's Double" makes him the immediate front runner for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

"The Devil's Double," rated R for strong, brutal bloody violence and torture, sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and pervasive language, opens in limited release on Friday, July 29.

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