Chasse au tueur

I haven't been rating movies, but I feel it is necessary for me to review this one. This is not a thrill-a-second kind of movie. It progresses intelligently and thoughtfully. It is a thinking movie. The acting and script are excellent. The two leads were perfect for this movie. They seemed to feed off of one another, trying to outdo each other as the best actor in the movie. So many movies fall flat at the end. But this one excelled. It actually has a good ending. I recommend this movie to anyone who is intelligent, and likes to think. Yes, it got a bit slow with some scenes that maybe could have been written a little better. That's why I'm only giving it an eight. But I don't know how anyone could walk away from this movie disappointed!

So it's like most crime dramas, you know, there's a killer, false lead, false lead, then true lead, true lead until they catch him.

The first part was like that, like most crime movies. But I liked the second part, I'm not going to spoil anything, but the characters and their motivations felt real, felt like it could happen to anyone in this day and age. It left me thinking about a lot of stuff, it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, a bit sad about what happened and overall the killer's story, which is more sad than violent.

Overall I really enjoyed it, it's a slow burner but it pays off. I recommend it.

Just by watching the trailer, I was annoyed with Mendelsohn's character Lammark, and I questioned casting Woodley as a beat cop - I mean there are so many other more convincing female actors out there. But oddly enough, both actors and their characters grew on me as the film progressed.

I'm also not a fan of slow paced films, and this one mostly is, but oddly enough, Argentinian co-writer and director Damián Szifron (in his first English film debut) made it all work with engaging scenes and circumstances. His directing was spot-on, and although there was ambiguity to many scenes and dialogue, the film came together like an old school psycho-thriller/police procedural. It felt like a non-Hollywood-stylized movie version of a better Criminal Minds episode.

The story was nothing revolutionary, but delivered enough suspense at the right moments, built intriguing character interest, and had some riveting action just at the right times to keep me fully engaged throughout the entire almost two hour runtime. So considering the current slim pickings out there for down and out enjoyable thriller/cop films, this one is a winner, and a definite recommend from me.

Shailene Woodley has never stood out, (to me), in any particularly noteworthy way as an actor. Actually, that sounds a lot harsher than intended. In more courteous terminology, she has always executed her roles well, but never enough in my estimation, to count as an actor who I would deliberately look forward to seeing in films - until now.

In "To Catch A Killer" she delivers such a strong and believable performance as a precarious beat officer, that she practically steals the spotlight. Here, I have to draw your attention to the word "practically", because in this film, Woodley is paired with Ben Mendelsohn who also delivers such a successfully rich, compelling and powerful depiction of an aging and enervated senior FBI detective, that it is difficult to tell who outdoes the other with and within the efficacy of their roles. To me, they kind of throw the torch (or baton) of excellence to one another, scene by scene.

As if the near-perfect delivery and chemistry of the leads was not enough, despite some of the token villainous characters and scenarios being a bit over-the-top, the acting by most everyone else was also above-average. This is especially true of Ralph Ineson, who was simply, low-key great.

My biggest and mostly only complaint upon first-viewing, was that a little over 3/4's of the way through, the film kind of changes direction a bit, which made the ending feel uneven and somewhat unfulfilling. In RETROSPECT, however, I think that the way it took somewhat of a shift might be the best thing they could have done with it. Had they gone in any other direction, it would be much too easy to chalk this up as a film which ended in a predictable or 'done before' manner.

As it is, To Catch a Killer ended the way it began: as a solid, stand-alone feature that was immersive, tense and thought-provoking through and through.

7.8/10.

A marksman strikes on New Year's Eve, killing almost thirty people, on the case is FBI Agent Landmark, who gives a chance to intelligent, but troubled Police Officer Eleanor.

This is a Thriller with a bit of depth, and one that will definitely hold your interest, it doesn't exactly cover any new ground, or give us anything that hasn't been done before, but when I compare this to the batch of recent thrillers that I've seen recently, this one offers a bit more.

The final showdown was a particularly good scene, a good old fashioned scene of the good guy taking on the bad one, the age old hunt for a moral code.

Maybe the scenes inside the abattoir were a little unexpected and graphic, they'll be too much for some viewers.

I've seen Shailene Woodley in a few things, and for me this is the best of her, I thought she was excellent as. I thought Ralph Ineson was terrific.

It's not groundbreaking, but it's a decent watch.

7/10.