Catching up with 2010: Capsule Review – The Killer Inside Me

Not since John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has a film attempted so closely to follow and track the depravity of a killer, but Michael Winterbottom's latest experiment (based on a popular piece of pulp fiction) tries its hardest to do just that, but is sadly derailed by superfluous story threads and unnecessary supporting characters that seem to just drift in and out of the story with no rhyme or reason. The major difference between the two films, and one of the reasons the former works so well, is that McNaughton's film isn't stylized in the way that Winterbottom's film The Killer Inside Me is. McNaughton's film also wasn't interested in cluttering the story with those aforementioned unnecessary elements. Here was have a film that seems like it's going into an uncomfortable territory – into a place where there is nowhere to hide and we must confront the brutality of the killer we're watching (and being led through the story by); however, this is not the case with The Killer Inside Me which sadly devolves into normalcy when the film really calls for all-out, unflinching nihilism.

I'm not saying that's a requirement for a film of this nature to be good, but if Winterbottom and his crew (and the crew does great work as the production design and cinematography are top notch) were content on giving us scenes like they do where a character is brutally punched to death (with sound-mixing that churned my stomach) then they can't back down the rest of the way by making the film a banal procedural with unnecessary periphery characters and a horribly misused soundtrack. Sadly, that's what The Killer Inside Me amounts to. I really wanted to love this movie. I was ready to go there if the film would have been willing to go to the places, the depths, it promised it was going in its opening 30 minutes. Alas, it's somewhat of a miss for Winterbottom, one of the most prolific (and one of my favorite) filmmakers working today. The Killer Inside Me is a beautiful looking film with the appropriate pulp/noir aesthetic, but a tone that is all over the place (especially in the way the film juxtaposes the brutality of its moments with a 50's soundtrack that is just all wrong all the time). There's enough here in the performance of Affleck and the style of the film to make it more than a worthwhile curiosity, but considering the talent and the subject matter it's a surprisingly disappointing and banal one.

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“I will hate you for doing this, and I don’t want to…”

Ugly, messy, morally ambiguous, and philosophically complex Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone is slowly becoming my favorite film of 2007. I missed its initial run in theaters, and I didn’t catch it until well after I had constructed my top 10 list for 2007 (with the bad ass trifecta of Zodiac, No Country for Old Men, and Eastern Promises as my top three), but I caught the film on DVD when it first came out and loved it, retroactively (in my mind) placed it in my top 5 for that year (because I’m kind of crazy and OCD like that). After watching the film again tonight on Starz I realize that we’re dealing with a masterpiece here. The film is gorgeous to look at (as gorgeous as the slums of Boston can be), and the elder Affleck shows a real command of filmmaking. He frames each shot perfectly, knows precisely when to cut, knows how to set up a scene, and when to change styles; and perhaps most importantly knows when to sit back and let his amazing ensemble cast do the heavy lifting.

More thoughts after the jump...


And heavy lifting it is…by the climax, the film is so interested in letting its two main characters, private investigators (who also happen to be dating) played by Casey Affleck (in a phenomenal performance…watch the way he out-acts Morgan Freeman at the end of this film) and Michelle Monaghan, discuss the moral repercussions of certain decisions, and allowing the audience to decide which side of the philosophical argument they sit, that we’ve pretty much forgotten the complexity of the police procedural that comes before the final moments of the film. The dichotomy that Affleck the director sets up at the end of the film is so much more interesting and taut than a shoot out, or any kind of big “crack-in-the-case” type moment. That’s not a knock on the writing, because the film does a great job of laying it all out there and not drawing attention to any of the clues (only do we know they’re clues when we re-visit the film)…the film respects its audiences intelligence level – and that’s rare for a mainstream thriller.


But that ending…damn I love that ending…executed perfectly by Affleck the director and little brother Casey who has a heart shattering moment with his girlfriend (Monaghan) where the two just don’t see eye to eye on an issue. Watch the way Monaghan poignantly pleas with her partner, stating her case through tears…then watch how Affleck rigidly sticks to his guns despite the pleas from the woman he loves. This is a bigger issue for him than what your significant other wants you to do…this is about what is morally right, and this wrestling with morality isn’t as cut and dry as most Hollywood dramas would have you think.

The issue in question (which I won’t spoil too much in case you haven’t seen the movie) changes the lives of four people, and whether it’s for better or worse Affleck and co. leave that for you to decide. Has there ever been a mainstream thriller that’s ended on such an ambiguous note? That final shot sticks with you long after you’ve seen the film (and the final line, too, where Affleck’s character realizes he made a mistake), and perhaps will lead to a heated post-film debate (like the one Affleck and Monaghan engage in at the end of the film) about the decision that is ultimately made, and the limits of morality we are willing to push (or not willing) in order to protect someone from what we may perceive as a bad situation. The film leaves you in a state of contemplation (that final shot is perfect)…contemplating things (and second guessing decisions) that may not be so sunny and neatly wrapped-up; things that may be ugly and ambiguous. Just like life.

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