Taking Lives - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) | Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke

Taking Lives - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) | Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke | Killing Time

DVDs:

Taking Lives - Dir...

	Taking Lives - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke Warner Home Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 172 reviews view larger image
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A psychological thriller Taking Lives is the story of an FBI agent who becomes involved with her key witness while tracking a prolific serial killer who assumes the lives and identities of the people he kills. She finds herself surrounded by numerous suspects and no one to trust.Running Time: 103 min.System Requirements:Running Time 106 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: UNRATED UPC: 012569431829 Manufacturer No: 4318

intelligent thriller (4.9/5)

i thought this was a very intelligent,well written thriller.the music
puts you on edge from the beginning.the movie has a great dark
atmosphere.there are enough red herrings to keep you guessing,and some
great intensity.this is a very dark,disturbing movie and is also very
graphic at times.to me,this was much better than your standard crime
drama/mystery/thriller.i liked Angelina Jolie's performance as an FBI
profiler .her performance is very subdued,almost sublime,and it
works,in my opinion.the best serial killer movie ever made,in my
mind,is Copycat,at least so far.this one isn't quite as intense,but
it's still a great movie.Like the Bone Collector,also starring Angelina
Jolie(and Denzel Washington)i'd have to rate taking Lives a 4.9/5

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Killing Time

There's an old expression that claims, "In Hell, the chefs are English, the engineers are Italian, and the comedians are Swiss." Perhaps it's time to add, "Film murder mysteries are Canadian." Test this theory out sometime. The next time you're watching an alleged thriller and find yourself checking to see if Reno 911 is on, look carefully for telltale signs of Canadian-ism. Casual flipping back and forth between French and English? An uncomfortably high number of ice hockey references? Back bacon omnipresent? If your thriller has had a thrill-ectomy, chances are good it's flying a maple leaf flag.

As with comedy, cliff diving, and juggling machetes - thrillers live or die with timing. Canadian thrillers almost invariably use 10 beats where 4 would have been too many and 2 not quite enough. Dramatic tension, creepiness, and anxiety must be cared for and nourished, like pets, if one expects them to survive the long fallow periods separating gruesome revelations. Take a movie like Seven, for instance - almost a textbook example of perfect timing and the gradual escalation of anxiety until it reaches unbearable extremes. If 7 is a 10, Taking Lives is a 4 in the timing department.

The biggest disappointment of this film is that it squanders a very interesting idea. The killer sheds identities like snakeskins, taking over the lives of his victims, moving sequentially through an ongoing chain of assumed personalities. This is a fascinating psychological profile, way above average for films of this genre. It would have been very interesting to see more of what this involved as our killer grew into the shoes of various people. (You will never again be able to hear the phrase, "Hey, I just noticed we're about the same height," in the same way.) Unfortunately the story is told primarily from the perspective of Angelina Jolie, an American FBI profiler brought in specially for the case because all the Canadian profilers went moose hunting that week.

This movie is not bad, but it's not good either. The location is often underutilized and even misrepresented. Ethan Hawke is good enough; Kiefer Sutherland sticks around long enough to pick up his check, and it's a pleasure to see the great Gena Rowlands, or what's left of her. Taking Lives is dressy to watch and has the requisite number of plot twists, albeit improbable ones. It's good enough to be entertaining. But as far as being a thriller goes, be prepared to get your thrills at about the same pace as maple syrup descends from the lip of an earthenware jug.

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So-so serial killer thriller

"Taking Lives" had a lot of potential. You've got an interesting story. FBI Profiler, Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is a stranger in a strange land, Montreal Canada. She's been sent there to help track down a serial killer who assumes the lives of the people he's killed and thus becomes pretty untraceable. In the process, she falls for the only witness Art Dealer Costa (Ethan Hawke) who was the only witness to the first crime.

The film offers some serious action and interesting twists, but nothing you wouldn't see on television save for a pretty steamy scene between Scott and Costa which earns the film its R-rating.

The problem is, the film's slow and not quite believable on several levels. It is great if you are a serious fan of either Hawke or Jolie.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2008

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Searching for a Serial Killer

A man is struck on a highway. Another man takes his wallet and hits his face with a rock. We see newspaper reports of other dead men. Is there a connection between them? (Is the height of 5'10" average?) Then a woman goes to the police, she has seen her dangerous son. The Montreal police have sent for an expert; she gives her opinions about the killer (profiling). Then there is a fresh killing with a witness. The police question the witness about the murder. [Is there corroboration?] A tip brings them to a suspect's empty apartment. But is it empty? More leads turn up and have to be investigated. One involves exhuming a body, the bones testify to an identity. Special Agent Scott discovers a clue about the killer, and theorizes what caused the murders.

Will the trap set by the police catch the killer? If it fails will they try again? There is a very dramatic scene and a chase that seems too clever. The plan to send the witness away goes awry. The scenes seem incredible, as if the story was changed for dramatic action. [But the time element says there is more to this story.] We soon learn about the shocking surprise to this story. The chase is on again. Can they find a needle in the haystack? Agent Scott leaves for a new life. [Believable?] There is another shocking surprise at the end of this story. [Credible to you?]

A better plot, less overly complicated and more believable, would make a better film. There was no reference or use of scientific evidence gathering in this story about an unseen killer.

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