HACKMAN, FREEMAN ENERGIZED BY 'SUSPICION'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Sometimes, great acting is enough. ``Under Suspicion'' is one of those cases.

A duet - with, um, flourishes - between a clearly charged-up Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, ``Suspicion'' gives both veterans ample opportunity to dig deep into their reserves of craft. A snaky, stone-unturning interrogation drama, it offers the two ``Unforgiven'' co- stars every opportunity not only to strut their formidable technique and indulge the kind of byplay only longtime masters can accomplish, but also to explore alarmingly intimate corners of the aging male psyche.

The film is bracing as long as these two are on together, which is most of the time. But even their stellar work can't completely disguise the scenario's setup-heavy contrivance. An overemphasized red herring toward the climax is also distracting; it leeches impact away from the psychological revelations that are the film's real meat - not to mention being a borderline infuriating narrative cheat.

The film is a plushly refurbished remake of the stripped-down, French hothouse number ``Garde a Vue.'' The earlier version took place entirely in a Paris police station on a rainy night. This one is set in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the night of one those elaborate, early-winter Caribbean carnival celebrations.

Director Stephen Hopkins (``Lost in Space,'' ``Blown Away'') also tricks matters up with numerous flashbacks, re-enactments and even a number of surreal restagings of alarming events, in which Freeman's police inspector Victor Benezet inserts himself into events that his suspect, Hackman's wealthy tax attorney Henry Hearst, may or may not be truthfully recounting.

The resulting swirl of evidence, insinuation and obfuscation becomes pretty baroque at times. But for the most part, the emotional engagement of dogged, resentful detective and blustering, secretly vulnerable power broker remains the main focus, and the actors lead us through it with evident relish.

While a lavish fund-raising event waits for its featured speaker on the other side of a celebrant-clogged square, Benezet and his hotheaded young assistant, Owens (Thomas Jane), try to browbeat Hearst into confessing to a pair of schoolgirl rape murders. A day earlier, Hearst discovered the latest corpse on his morning jog, but there are discrepancies with the report he filed. Benezet and Owens marshal every trick at their command to entrap the crafty old lawyer, and indeed Hearst becomes more deeply enmeshed in a skein of his own lies the longer the night wears on.

But to really get to his prey, Benezet has to access his own emotional dysfunctions that intersect what he suspects of Hearst. The film becomes more than a cat-and-mouse game along this line; it turns into a sharing of grief between two old men whose love lives have been devastatingly unfulfilling. As the real details of Hearst's relationship with his beautiful young trophy wife (Italian actress Monica Bellucci) accrue, a profound sadness informs the game. While you can still view Benezet as kind of pitiful and Hearst as some kind of monster by film's end, you can't help but sympathize with each man's personal predicament.

Hackman, who has long wanted to remake ``Garde a Vue,'' is as engaged with the material as he's been with anything. Whether bellowing or cracking, misleading or cornered, every nerve in his body seems to be on constant alert - and you can feel it in the moments when Hearst is supposedly just listening, too. For an actor who too often follows a paycheck instead of his best instincts (anyone who saw the recent ``Replacements'' walk-through knows what I mean), Hackman really offers his many fans a satisfying feast here.

Freeman, on the other hand, is rarely less than 100 percent committed to his work. It's almost possible to take his consistent excellence for granted, but he's just too vital a force for such complacency to ever stick. On the heels of totally revitalizing the sensitive hit man archetype in ``Nurse Betty,'' he brings fine human shadings to the oft-visited, relentless detective here.

Hackman and Freeman had some great scenes together in ``Unforgiven.'' ``Under Suspicion'' is hardly the masterwork that film was, but the two stars give just as much to it.

Perhaps even more.

``UNDER SUSPICION''

(Rated R: language, sex, violence).

The stars: Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Monica Bellucci. Behind the scenes: Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Written by W. Peter Illiff and Tom Provost, based on Claude Miller's film ``Garde a Vue'' and John Wainwright's book ``Brainwash.'' Running time: One hour, 50 minutes. Playing: Selected theaters. Our rating: Three stars

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Gene Hackman approaches his young trophy wife (Monica Bellucci) in ``Under Suspicion.''