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.
