BEFORE: "Dexter", "The Killing", "Bates Motel", "The Following", "Hannibal", "Criminal Minds". You see where I'm going with this? There's simply no hotter trend on TV right now than serial killers. I guess serial killing kind of lends itself to serialized episodic drama - homicide investigations tend to take a long time after all. But what about serial killers in movies? What sort of insights will I gain by watching a bunch of films about them this month?
Linking from "The River Wild, David Strathairn carries over.
THE PLOT: Jessica, whose father was a serial killer, is a female police officer. While investigating a murder, she finds herself in the center of her own investigation when her former lovers start dying around her at a furious pace.
AFTER: There's a lot going on in this film, I'd venture to say almost too much. The lead character is a detective who's got a lot of issues - she tends to drink too much and black out, and she enjoys having nearly anonymous sex with random men. You'd think those two hobbies would be in conflict with each other, but maybe she alternates nights or something. Or maybe it's kind of like she ruffies herself and then things get out of control, night after night. Still, it's weird to have a central character who's acting both morally and immorally at the same time.
Anyway, it's apparently in her genes, since her father was both a policeman AND a serial killer, which leads to the possibility that she takes after her Pops. The other possibility is that someone close to her is doing the killings, but it seems like everyone she knows is a cop - so somebody else may be playing both sides of the law.
What's the implication here - that there's a fine line between a policeman and a serial killer? I'm not sure I see the logic in that. Are we supposed to believe that a policeman who has to kill someone in the line of duty can get hooked on the adrenaline rush, and then have the urge to kill again and again?
NITPICK POINT: Am I also supposed to believe that someone who appears too drunk to get off the couch would suddenly gain the ability to get up, drive to another location, track down a former lover, kill them, and then not remember anything about it? So, she's conscious and unconscious at the same time? How does she make it down the stairs? What if the person she's trying to kill isn't home? Wouldn't she at some point wake up in an alley or something, instead of returning to exactly the same spot on the couch where she blacked out? It's like some screenwriter doesn't know how drinking works.
This is a less-than-auspicious start for the topic, because this film starts out ridiculously and ends the same way. Once the truth is revealed about who's been committing the killings, it changes everything, and nothing. Jeez, has anyone learned any lesson at all?
Lots of good San Francisco scenery, though - from Alcatraz and the Palace of the Arts to AT&T Park, to Pier 24 and the Hyde Street Pier, with the Balclutha ship (last seen in "Mutiny on the Bounty") seen in the background. Lots more San Francisco-based films coming up in the next couple of weeks.
Also starring Ashley Judd (last seen in "A Time to Kill"), Samuel L. Jackson (last seen in "Kill Bill: Vol. 2", Andy Garcia (last seen in "Internal Affairs"), Camryn Manheim (last seen in "Mercury Rising"), Mark Pellegrino, Titus Welliver (last seen in "Mulholland Falls"), Leland Orser (last seen in "Taken").
RATING: 3 out of 10 sea lions
No comments:
Post a Comment