Taking Lives
Directed by D.J. Caruso.
A serial killer movie really needs to have something unique in order to distinguish it from the plethora of “serial killer of the week” television shows. Unfortunately, despite its technical competence, the storyline of this off-kilter thriller is strictly by the numbers.
Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is an FBI agent called up by the Montréal police to investigate a series of killings that have occurred over the past twenty years. The case is jump-started once again by the appearance of the witness to the most recent murder, James Costa (Ethan Hawke). Going on his drawing of the killer, Scott and her team get closer and closer to finding his identity, but not before Scott finds herself falling for Costa. Mixing personal feelings and her work is something this ice-cold investigator has always tried to avoid.
The characterisation of Jolie’s character is at least marginally interesting; specifically her obsession with her investigative work coupled with her lack of emotional investment in anyone around her, but most of the other characters get so little screen time we can barely distinguish one from the other. The movie tries to raise some interesting questions, which I won’t reveal here at risk of spoiling the plot, but unfortunately they are never really explored in any depth, the script instead opting for a series of shocks and suspenseful sequences which, admittedly, are well executed.
D.J. Caruso, who has previously mostly directed for television, directs the picture with some visual intelligence and Philip Glass’s music contributes nicely to the eerie ambience. This is really the movie’s best asset; there is a strange and somewhat unsettling feeling that permeates every scene, right from the offkilter opening sequence to the bizarre ending. The plot doesn’t go anywhere we haven’t seen before, but it’s creepy enough for me to give it a reserved recommendation.
**½/4
Josh Blackman
