The Double

The Double is a 2011 American spy film directed by Michael Brandt, written by Brandt and Derek Haas, and starring Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Stephen Moyer and Martin Sheen. The film tells the story about a retired CIA operative working with a rookie FBI agent to solve the murder of a US senator caused by a Soviet assassin. It was released on October 28, 2011. The film garnered negative reviews from critics, and was a box office bomb. Plot Two FBI agents are conducting surveillance at a warehouse. As U.S. Senator Dennis Darden walks out of the door, he is approached by an assassin from behind who slits his throat and escapes. The agents rush to the scene to find the man dead. However, they could not identify the assassin as he committed the murder in darkness. Later, CIA officers arrive on the scene and take charge. Retired operative Paul Shepherdson is summoned by CIA director Tom Highland to look into the murder. He is introduced to a young FBI agent, Ben Geary who is an expert on a former Soviet operative known as Cassius. Geary reasons that Cassius is the assassin due to his signature throat-slitting (garrotting) method. Paul and Ben visit Brutus, one of Cassius's proteges, who is locked up in prison, to learn the whereabouts of Cassius. They provide him with a radio and leave. The prisoner then swallows the batteries from the radio and fakes a poisoning/upset stomach. Upon arriving at a hospital, he regurgitates and spits out the batteries, overpowers the medical staff, and escapes. In the basement's garage, he is attacked by Paul, who reveals himself to be Cassius himself, the very operative who had previously trained the fugitive. Cassius slits his throat. He then moves to eliminate Ben too, only stopping when interrupted by Ben's wife—Cassius is unable to murder Geary in front of his family. Upon investigating the crime scene, Ben grows increasingly suspicious of Paul. Meanwhile, a Russian terrorist and murderer, Bozlovski, has entered the U.S.