Last night I checked out the psychological thriller PEACOCK which stars Susan Sarandon, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy. I am not a huge fan of Susan Sarandon’s but Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy are two of my favourite character actors who bring alot of dimension to every role they play. Peacock delivers strongly throughout and its only real flaw is a severely disjointed and disappointing ending which makes what could have been cinematic genius an entertaining but disappointing film.

John Skillpa played by Cillian Murphy, a quiet bank clerk living in tiny Peacock, Nebraska, prefers to live an invisible life. This might have to do with John's secret: he has another personality no one knows about, a woman who each morning does his chores and cooks him breakfast before he starts his day. Then, in a moment, everything changes. Ellen Page stars as a prostitute who has a brief relationship with John Skilpa with unexpected consequences that brings out the dark side of his alter ego.

Peacock plays out for the first three quarters of the film like a classic Hitchcock film and reminded me quite a bit of PSYCHO and Adam Green’s SPIRAL up until its closing minutes where the film found itself severely derailed by a very poor climax and plot closure. Cillian Murphy delivered one of his best performances ever playing John Skillpa and his wife Emma Skillpa with such skill that you really do feel its two distinct people and characters. Ellen Page true to form delivers a command performance as a struggling young mother trying to escape the trials of small town life.

The film overall is the definition of great story telling with a unique script and intrigueing characters but it is also quite clear why this film was never released wide. The ending is one of the worst and most cliché ‘fade to black’ endings I have seen. For a film with such presence and intensity to wrap up with a simple fade to black moment is not only a disappointment its a complete let down considering how good the rest of the film was. If you like Hitchcock or if you enjoye Adam Green’s Spiral you will enjoy PEACOCK but be prepared for an ending that will make you want to throw your remote control through the TV. A classic thriller with a serious disappointment ending but despite all of this still deserving of an 8 out of 10.