Scene: Hollywood execs sitting in a big office. One turns to the other. "Hey, let's make a film where a serial killer plans out elaborate ways to kill people, taunting the police along the way." Second exec, "I don't know, what's the twist." First exec, "It's set in Canada." Second exec, "Brilliant… and we can film it there too." Brilliant?
I'm pretty much a sucker for detective stories. I like mysteries. But the formula is getting old. When I first saw the trailer for this film and saw Angelina Jolie lying in the grave, I wanted to vomit. Grand dramatic gestures by cops are so lame. RED DRAGON nailed how to show a detective getting into the mind of the killer in my book. Additionally, TAKING LIVES throws common sense out the window. Time and time again, the contrivances of the plot make you shake your head.
The film starts out promising, giving us an alienated young man who kills and takes the lives of his victims. Mrs. Asher (Gena Rowlands, GLORIA) goes to the police and tells them that she has seen her dead son alive, warning, "My son is a very dangerous man." Because the Canucks don't have any profilers I guess, they call in American hottie Illeana (Jolie, GIRL, INTERRUPTED), which of course pisses off local cop Paquette (Olivier Martinez, UNFAITHFUL), who was "just this close" to solving the case.
There's a great shot at a construction site where a steam shovel scoops up a dead body, but then when Illeana describes the grave she knows it was all planned out because the grave was perfectly dug. But how do you know a grave is perfectly dug when its filled in and there is no grass on the construction site? The big break in the case comes when art dealer Costa (Ethan Hawk, TRAINING DAY) is brought into headquarters after witnessing a murder. First off when planning a murder or the capture of a murderer, luck should not be one of the counted on dynamics. Plus, the villain should not be so easy to pick out.
On the plus side, Jolie and Hawk are great. And for the men in the room, Jolie gets naked in the unrated version. But that too is getting as old as the plot structure of this film. In the end, it's just another entry in the genre of half-baked serial killer thrillers.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
