Mr. Murder

I would say all in all a decent TV movie. There was a lot from the book that never made it into the movie but that is to be expected. I'm sure Koontz himself would have done things different if he could have had FULL control. But considering the books are generally butchered for the screen anyway there is not much you can do about that.

The movie flowed well and the acting was solid. The kids were very real and believable, and Baldwin was good in the duel role. I thought the wife (played by Julie Warner) could have been cast better, she seemed a bit out of step with the feel of the story.

It's worth watching.

I've yet to see a movie made from a Dean Koontz novel that comes close to capturing the thrills and suspense he creates with the written word. While this movie is good enough to stand on its own, I think I'll stick with his novels.

Good Film. Decent Acting. Fine Plot (kinda like Soldier). Too Long !!!

The film starts well. It had me thinking that this kind of GM/Clone type stuff is possible and may well have been tried by governments as we speak. After a great opening 45 minutes the film descends into farce. Chase, evade, catch fight, chase, escape, fight, catch, chase, etc... At on point it feels like a superman flick. One leaves as the other enters, etc. Laughable. I did however enjoy the pathetic special effects when Baldwin was fighting with himself. Shocking!

Ok.. I was planning to give this one a bad review, and when I found out that I saw the 127 minute edited version and not the hour longer original version, it just came clear to me how lucky I was. In short, if you've ever seen a thriller before then you will know all the twists and turns and it's just boring and bad. As for the "effects" when Stephen Baldwin wrestles himself... we just fell over laughing. And if you've ever read more than one Dean R. Koontz book then you probably know it involves a government experiment gone wrong. Avoid. Please.

Sorry to say, in this outing, Stephen Baldwin can't act his way out of a paper bag. To top it off, his haircut looks like it was done by a barber school drop-out. Here he has two roles, that of the family man writer of mysteries, and the other a "clone" raised to be a killer without a memory.

I get that his alter-ego would be pretty lame in the emotive expressions department due to his upbringing, but Baldwin does the same thing with his main writer character. Of the Baldwin brothers, he is pretty much the most limited in acting ability, yet can still do well if directed well. That didn't happen here. This is evidenced by other superb actors being allowed to put in rudimentary performances.

Stephen Baldwin looks as though he'd be super as a Western villain, as he has that sort of appearance, smallish darting eyes, a sneering sort of smile. Though I typically like him in films, and partly because he can't rely upon the Baldwin appearance, he's not really got the leading man looks. He can still be a fine character actor.

FYI, the US DVD release states on the back that it's the 132 min version, but in fact it is the full-length two-part 190+ min version as was originally broadcast. I think they just took the shorter version VHS liner notes and placed them on the DVD.