BEFORE: Still another week or so of cop films to go. This one was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who won the Best Director Oscar earlier this year, for "The Hurt Locker".
THE PLOT: A female rookie in the police force engages in a cat and mouse game with a pistol wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her.
AFTER: Damn, and I was doing so well recently...after a couple of high-scoring police films, this one just didn't measure up for me.
Jamie Lee Curtis (making her first appearance in the countdown, hmm...) plays Megan Turner, a cop who apparently didn't pay much attention in the police academy - her first encounter with a perp doesn't go well, and she gets suspended. But when her name turns up, etched into a killer's bullets, she gets put back on the force for her own protection (huh?) and for some reason, gets promoted to detective at the same time. I'm fairly sure that's NOT how people get promoted in the N.Y.P.D.
This COULD have been a realistic, in-depth look at the uphill battle faced by a female cop, always struggling and seeking acceptance from her peers, society, and herself. But by intertwining her story with that of an obsessed serial killer, her character is reduced from hero to target. What a shame. Curtis is essentially playing the same role here that she did in horror movies like "Halloween" and "Prom Night" (not that I've seen those...) - she's just a victim here, relying on help from male officers for protection.
And even when she acts, late in the film, she makes the same stupid mistakes she did early on. When a person knows that they're the target of a killer, you might think they'd act differently, maybe a little more cautious or careful? Maybe check an apartment for signs of entry, or clear a room before entering it? Maybe if a killer is tracking you, you should hide out? Not go and visit your parents the next day, because, hey, now the killer knows where your parents live! The horror-movie analogy is a good one, because I just found myself shouting at the screen, in disbelief of how stupid the main character acted - not one lick of common sense.
So I have to call "shenanigans" on this film - any points awarded will be given to the memory of Ron Silver (last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), who plays crazy/evil very well here - they say it's the quiet ones with the stressful jobs that snap first, after all. You always hear a suspect's neighbors being interviewed saying "He was a quiet man, kept to himself, never caused any trouble." You almost never hear them say, "Yeah, that guy was wound WAY too tight - we always knew he'd snap one day, and we just hoped we'd be far away when it happened..."
Also starring Clancy Brown (last seen in "Dead Man Walking"), Kevin Dunn (last seen in "Only the Lonely"), Elizabeth Pena (last seen in "Batteries Not Included"), Richard Jenkins (last seen in "Step Brothers"), Louise Fletcher, and Tom Sizemore (last seen in "Devil in a Blue Dress") in his first film role, as the grocery-store robber.
RATING: 3 out of 10 rookie mistakes
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