Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

James Hitchcock "Uncovered" is based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel "The Flanders Panel". Julia Darro, a young art historian and restorer from Barcelona, is working on a fifteenth-century Flemish painting called "The Game of Chess", when she discovers a painted-over message reading "Quis Necavit Equitem?" (Latin for "Who killed the knight?") Julia begins to research the painting's background to discover the meaning of this inscription, and discovers that it relates to a 500-year-old murder mystery. She realises that the solution to the mystery is connected to the chess game being played in the picture, and knowing little of the game herself recruits Domenec, a talented local chess player, to assist her. Julia and Domenec, however, realise that they are in danger, as several people connected with their research are also murdered.The central mystery is an intriguing and ingenious one, and well developed, although I could spot the identity of the murderer well before this was announced on screen. There are no really outstanding acting performances, but the lovely Kate Beckinsale makes a charming heroine (although I could never work out why she sneezes so much). Kate is one of the few actresses who can get away with wearing her hair boyishly short and still look strikingly beautiful.One criticism I have heard is that although the main characters are all supposed to be Spanish they all speak English without foreign accents. This, however, is not something which has ever worried me. The use of native British or American accents to represent foreigners' use of their own native languages is something I find perfectly acceptable. Charlton Heston's El Cid, for example, was also a Spaniard, and nobody complains that he speaks English like an American rather than like Manuel in "Fawlty Towers".This is one of the few films to take an interest in chess and art history, two rather intellectual pursuits, and it does so in such a way as to make both those subjects seem interesting, even glamorous, featuring a romance between a beautiful young art historian and a handsome chess genius. It makes good use of its setting, with some wonderful views of the city of Barcelona, especially the architecture of Antoni Gaudi. (One of the characters lives in an apartment in Casa Batlló, and Julia and Domenec first meet in Park Güell).Although this film was an Anglo-Spanish co-production, and stars a well-known English actress, it is curiously unknown in Britain. Although it is nearly twenty years since it was made, I have never seen it on television here, and it is available on DVD in the US but not in the UK. Yet it is, I think, a film which deserves to be better-known. 7/10

mis-5 I totally agree with Keith - the Beckinsale version is a total rape of one of my favorite books and I would much rather have seen a carefully made version where the actors speak Spanish and fit with the characters in the book. Hey, Almodovar, Amenabar and friends - where were you when the decision to make the film was set???? When Jean Jacques Annaud made films as for example The name of the Rose or Enemy at the Gates he did a perfect job in carefully creating the moods and atmospheres and directing characters, so in those cases I could actually stand the fact that most of the characters spoke English. But this film really sucks - I am really disappointed.

DocVW The movie was all in all for it's time a good movie. However, there is such a HUGE error in the flow of the movie at the end that it appears incredible that something like that could go unnoticed. Rather than spoil it, watch the movie for yourself and see if you can spot it. While you're at it, you may just enjoy the movie as well.The characters in the movie do a good job with a decent script, although, there really isn't anyone who comes across as a memorable actor. The movie was directed well enough that there was certainly good flow to it and there was certainly a hint of who the killer was without any explanations until the end of why.....

Maria-Venetia Kyritsi Uncovered is a little cute film that doesn't have much to say but says what it has quite charmingly. It was actually the plot that led me to seeing it and actually it turned out to be not exactly as I expected. Kate Beckinsale restores paintings. When she accidentally finds a hidden inscription that translates in Latin as "Who killed the knight?" in a 500 year old Flemish painting that passed from generation to generation in a certain rich family, she decides to find everything about it and to uncover the mystery that surrounds it. The painting depicts a chess game between two noble men and the hidden inscription leads her to believe that one of them was wrongly murdered and that the painter wanted to uncover the injustice done without putting himself in danger. But as she starts searching deeper and deeper the people around her meet with sudden and unjustified death. Desperate to solve the mystery she finds a young man, expert in chess, and convinces him to play the game backwards and see where that leads them. The whole film is actually nothing more than an Agatha Christian whodunit that lacks surprise since we can (or at least I could) guess from the beginning who the murderer is. Apart from that, it looks nice and that's especially because of Kate Beckinsale's performance who once more brings an amazingly fresh character to life. Also watch out for Peter Wingfield (Methos from the TV series Highlander!!!) that becomes the laughing stock of everyone as he plays the macho man who ends up kicked around by women. Overall, don't expect to see the movie of a lifetime but it's no doubt interesting. And Kate Beckinsale and John Wood are filling their shoes satisfactorily enough.