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| About Review |
Reviewer
RumbleWolf4
Review Date
20th August, 2004
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| Movie Credits |
Director
D.J. Caruso
Cast
Angelina Jolie
Ethan Hawke
Olivier Martinez
Tcheky Karyo
Kiefer Sutherland
Screenplay
Jon Bokenkamp
Tagline
"He would kill to be you!"
Country
USA / Canada
Classification
R
Year
2004
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| Errors |
| If you have found any errors in this review of the DVD, please tell us about it via e-mail. | |
| DVD Cover Art |
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| DVD Information |
Format
NTSC
Region Coding
1
Aspect Ratio
1.85:1
16x9 Enhanced
Yes
Running Time
103 minutes
Year Released
2004
Packaging
Keep Case
Extra Features
4 Featurettes
Gag Reel
Theatrical Trailer
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Taking Lives
The Plot
FBI profiler, Illeana Scott is on the trail of an elusive serial killer in Montreal, Quebec. This particualr killer, assumes the identity of his victims, essentially taking their lives (in more ways than one). When Scott gets personally involved with the killer's next potential victim, her life becomes unraveled as the killer moves ever closer.
The Movie
Taking Lives may not take the gold medal for best thriller, but it is a very decent one. This movie will remind many of David Fincher's phenominal film "Se7en", but it certaintly is not of that films caliber. Jolie does very well as Agent Scott, delivering an engaging and focused perofrmance. Her dialouge could've been better, but you can't blame her for that. Hawke plays the killer's next potential victim and does ok enough. But what makes this film stand out is it's mood and atmosphere.
The director uses many extreme closeups that make things seem all the more unsettling. Some interesting color saturation and overall gloominess enhance the effect. A good score by Phillip Glass (Secret Window, Candyman,Suspira) sets the tone perfectly. It's this grunginess and dark tone that make the film seem similar to Se7en, but a unique killer helps it stand out even further. Jolie describes him best: "He's like a hermit crab, when he grows out of a shell, he looks for a new one". Those shells being the identities of his victims. the fact that his chosen kills grow progressively older as the killer himself ages was a nice touch. I also like the way that we notice how observant our heroine is, by the way the camera focuses on the minute details she notices art crime scenes (akin to the technique used in The Rundown).
So what's not to like? Well, the plot is a tad too derivitive and the twist ending was what I expected before I even watched the film. Disappointing and obvious! Also, the ending scene seems like it's from a completely different movie, since the tone and feel is so different. It's this unconsistency that pulls the film down a bit. Also, aside from Jolie, Hawke and the killer, we don't really care about any of the other characters. But back to the positives, there is one VERY effective Boo scare and a non gratutitous sex scene that actually helps the story make sense (a rarity!).
Overall, it's a solid if unmemorable dramatic thriller. The score and dark,depressing feel are the movie's highlights as is Jolie's performance. However, an obvious script and an out-of-place ending drag it down. Good but not great.
The DVD
Finally Warner Bros. releases a DVD without an annoying snap case! However, it still has that annoying Auto-Start feature, which causes the movie to automatically begin if you linger on the main menu too long. As for featres, this film is only so-so. We get four short featurettes (which can be viewed together totaling about 20 minutes) a gag reel that seems very out of place givern the film's dark tone and the very cool trailer. The now-standard Commentary is absent (one with the director, Jolie and Hawke would've been nice). The menus are cool and fit the film's feel but that's not very significant when compared to the lack of interesting features. It could've been much worse though.
This movie is also available on a Director's Cut edition which I was unfortunetly unable to procure.
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