Mr. Brooks | Kevin Costner, Demi Moore | A Creepy, Thoughtful Thriller

Mr. Brooks | Kevin Costner, Demi Moore | Disturbing...intriguing...

DVDs:

Mr. Brooks

	Mr. Brooks Kevin Costner, Demi Moore MGM (Video & DVD), 2007 average customer review:based on 147 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Consider MR. BROOKS. A successful businessman. A generous philanthropist. A loving father and devoted husband. Seemingly, he's perfect. But Mr. Brooks has a secret... he is also the notorious Thumbprint Killer and no one has ever suspected it... until now.

A Creepy, Thoughtful Thriller

While some movies try to thrill you with a sub-standard plot, and others try to make you think and end up getting you confused, this movie finds the perfect balance between the two.

The premise is that the main character, a successful, highly-regarded doctor played by Kevin Costner, finds his mind suddenly haunted by the overwhelming urge to commit murder. After a run as the most notorious serial killer in his home town, "Costner" thought he had put those demons to bed...only to be reacquainted with them once again, this time with a thriving career and family.

Two psychological factors really made this movie memorable to me: First, is how absolutely compelling "Costner's" murdering impulses are. No matter what he tries (until the end, when his entire life is thrown into question), he can't seem to shake them. Secondly, because of that absolute obsession, Costner's character actually becomes sympathetic. Despite the fact that he is murdering people in cold blood, he still feel for him, knowing that in some way he wants to break free as much as we want him to.

Overall, this film stuck with me awhile after viewing it, as it grapples with the age-old philosophical debate of why humans kill other humans? The film suggests that the violent, horrifying personas we stereotype serial killers as could be completely false...and that is really where the creepiness lies. The urge could be in any one of us.

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Disturbing...intriguing...

By day Mr. Brooks is a philanthropic businessman, loving husband, and doting father. By night he is a serial killer who is "addicted" to killing. He is spurred on in his killing by a voice inside of him who is personified by William Hurt. In the past Kevin Costner has been over-rated in some of his movie roles, but this time he shows some real acting skill and succeeds in creating the "flat affect" that is so often part of a psychopathic personality. As has been pointed out, the plot is full of holes big enough to drive a tank through, but certainly the movie keeps your attention and has some very intriguing moments.

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Serial murder as an intellectual pursuit

This is an interesting an intelligent movie about a man's obsession--addiction--for the thrill of taking human life. Mr. Brooks, although prominent and successful, is otherwise an ordinary Joe. Maybe a little too ordinary. He is efficient, loves his family and is a mild-mannered, low keyed guy. Unfortunately, he has an alterego in the form of a man, more forward and assertive than Brooks, constantly giving him dangerous advice.

His advice is to give into his impulses, track down people and kill them in cold-blood. Brooks does it, too, swearing each will be his last. He doesn't enjoy it, he tells his alterego, but justifies it as an addiction. Unfortunately, he is identified at the scene of one of his kills by a young voyeur. This man, quite unexpectedly, blackmails Brooks into taking him along on a thrill-kill. Brooks toys with the blackmailer, taking him along to scope things out and track people. The younger man is frustrated. He wants it now!

Brooks, by now, fearing the humiliation of discovery is considering the possibility of suicide...maybe the young guy will help him out.

As I said, it's a good movie but it's not fast paced. Also, as an exposition of serial homicide it is not characteristic. Almost all of these guys are serial sexual psychopaths. They sexually abuse and torture their victims before they torture them. Brooks doesn't. I think this is cinematically explainable. A graphic film of the 'average' serial sexual psychopath would necessarily be worse than hard core pornography.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

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Interesting and entertaining, but with serious flaws.

I don't have a problem with suspending disbelief for a film and the inplausible situations in this film are no exception. Overall, Mr. Brooks is a pretty good movie, though I do have two major reservations.

The first is a subplot involving an escaped murderer named Meeks who, with his psychotic girlfriend, make it their mission to exact revenge on Detective Atwood (Demi Moore). The problem here is that this subplot never even intersects the main story in an integral way. It seemed an excuse to throw two over-the-top action sequences into a movie that otherwise would (and should) have none. This subplot is eventually forced to resolution with the main story in off-screen actions made by the titular character (for no clear reason aside from his admiration for Atwood) and it could have been entirely edited out of the film (for want of about 7 minutes of footage) and none would have been the wiser. If they had done this, I would have given the movie 4 stars.

The second problem I have with this movie is the way they handle the cemetery scene. I'm sure the writers thought it was clever to have Brooks play with "Smith" a while, but the sequence felt cheesy and the drama was forced. The handling of this scene, along with the inclusion of the final "dream-sequence" (dream-sequences are cop-outs with very few exceptions) detracted from my sense of satisfaction at having watched this movie. The omenous atmosphere around Brooks' daughter was already established and palpable, making the dream sequence entirely unnecessary.

Mr. Brooks is not worth buying, but definitely worth renting.

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I nice change in the genre.

This IS Kostner's best performance. And, the serial killer thriller has a fresh approach with some stable tried and true twists. I'm not actually a fan of this genre and I rented it because nothing else was good at Red Box. I'm glad I did. Might even buy it when it hits the 5 dollar bin.

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