Taking Lives

There are a lot of these crime thrillers about. Some, such as Copycat and Insomnia, offer a surprisingly good time; but more often than not, these films are a lot more like Murder by Numbers and The Bone Collector, and unfortunately; Taking Lives is like the latter. That being said, the film certainly isn't all bad; and definitely does have its moments. The plot has little regard for consistency or logic, as it constantly switches gears and throws in any number of events that are clearly there for dramatic effect and haven't been thought out properly. The film is an obvious derivative of successful nineties thriller, 'Seven' and some scenes, such as the entry into the murderer's home have been taken wholesale from the superior movie. The plot has a lot of elements, but we principally follow FBI agent Illeana Scott as she travels to Montreal in order to help their police force with a case that involves a serial killer who, not content to simply murder his victims, takes their identity and lives their lives for a period before moving onto his next victim.

The cinematography is dark and glossy, and sleazy settings mean that it's always a lot like Fincher's earlier flick. The pace of the film is poorly paced, as sometimes it's fast and furious, while at other times it's very dull. At almost an hour and fifty minutes, the film is too long; and a better editing job is definitely in order. The final half hour is of particular note for being poorly judged. It's far too slow, and means that rather than being memorable; the conclusion is tepid and disorientated. The first twist can be seen coming a mile off, and the way that it is revealed disregards logic for dramatic effect. The final twist doesn't work well either, as everything is far too convenient. It seems that in their effort to outdo all the other films in its class, the writers have forgotten that for dramatic effect to work, it needs to make sense. The acting is good enough, and it's obvious why the dark and mysterious Angelina Jolie was cast in the lead. Ethan Hawke, who I seem to like more every time I see him, is good; while Kiefer Sutherland is given nothing at all to do. On the whole, this is worth a watch if you've got nothing better to do; but there are better films that are like 'Taking Lives', than Taking Lives.

This was a so-so serial killer movie with good and bad marks. The good marks were mainly for keeping the viewer's interest. You don't fall asleep watching this film. Angeline Jolie looks as good as I've ever seen her, facially and figure-wise.

The film loses marks for an easy-to-solve story, some credibility gaps especially later in the movie and too small a part for Keifer Sutherland to get third billing. He has a very short role in here, hardly worth billing which was a bit disappointing.

Also, the French accents by Jean-Hgues Anglade and Tcheky Karyo were hard for me to understand, forcing me to put on the English subtitles.

This is an acceptable suspense movie full of intrigue , thrills , action , twists and turns . This film is made for Angelina Jolie , she is in each shot. She's beautiful, she plays rightly, she's wonderful .

Howewer , the other main character Ethan Hawke is regularly played , his performance is overdone and warped.

The support cast is featured by French actors : Oliver Martinez who's doing a American curriculum . Furthermore, Tcheky Karyo also has a broad career American ,generally in secondary roles.

Here is also Jean Hughes Anglade who only has French films , but giving a short acting , where he misinterprets a minor role.

Kiefer Sutherland, as always, plays a nasty ,wicked,and evil person. Will he be the killer? .

The picture is professionally directed by D.J. Caruso . He is a good craftsman whose films often have intense car crashes such as Disturbia (2007), and The Eagle eye (2008) and this Taking lives (2004) .

Rating : Acceptable, only for Jolie's fans.

If I had to write a one sentence review for Taking Lives, it would be, "If you have seen a ridiculous amount of thriller movies and have seen all the twists and turns before, then this movie is very predictable, if you haven't, it is worth a look and you may even be surprised." For those that want more, please read on.

I believe the casting for this movie was as close to perfect as they were going to get. Angelina Jolie stars as FBI Agent Illeana Scott. Illeana has both strengths and weaknesses,which are both done in the right way. She is a very smart detective and can pick up clues that many could not and leads the way to many places that the other detectives would never have found. She does not come off as the hardened, tough cop that would have made this movie much worse. Instead, she usually gets the short end of the stick when forced to do physical battle with lowlifes and even other cops. She is flawed and vulnerable but can put up a hell of a fight when needed but relies on her brain to beat a larger and stronger foe. For an example of how to do this the wrong way, see Ashley Judd (of whom I'm also a fan of) in Twisted.

Olivier Martinez plays a character I find hard to like at any part of the film named Paquette. Paquette is a Canadian cop who has issues with bringing the FBI in (I'm not sure if the FBI actually assists in Canadian affairs, but this is just a movie). Olivier seems likable as a person and I'm not familiar with his work, as I'm sure it is mostly French. I'll chalk it up to good acting.

Keifer Sutherland had only what seemed to be a bit part here and could have been used a bit more. He was probably in and out in 2 days of filming.

And finally, Ethan Hawke did a fine job for his role, but I think they could have made a better choice for this character.

As I said earlier, those of us who see many of these types of movies will probably see most of the twists before they happen. Many of them well before they happen. Some of you will know everything that's going to happen before it happens, such as I did, but I still think it was a good story and was entertained. I can honestly recommend this one for at least a rental.

Despite my love of Angelina Jolie, I must say that Taking Lives wasted a lot of good opportunity.

Given that they invented an entirely new lead character, we can't really compare this to the book, so let's look at it as a movie of it's own right.

Jolie plays Illeana Scott, a somewhat strange FBI agent who is called up to Canada to investigate the grisly murders of several young men, all whom have had their identities stolen by the killer. New to the scene is witness James Costa, Ethan Hawke, who soon grows to have an attachment to Scott.

At turns formulaic and down right rip off (the credits are far too similar to be called a homage to SE7EN), Taking Lives is a very enjoyable piece of work.

Beautifully shot, the film wallows in its moods. It knows that it can be creepy, but it wears it out on its sleeves.

Angelina is on top form as Scott, although its a shame that the movie does stoop to the need for quick-sex-scene-with-unnecessary-titty-shot.

Ethan Hawke is bearable as Costa, although he and Jolie have very little chemistry.

Other players, Olivier Martinez, Gena Rowlands, Tcheky Karyo and Jean Hughes-Angalade are also quite good.

The film does have its highs: excellent cinematography, creepy sinister mood, two fantastic adrenaline-jump moments that I never saw coming. But it also has one FATAL flaw, and that is that anyone who has seen any piece of film or television before will be able to guess who the killer is. Still, a fun movie nevertheless.

7/10 If you get the chance to see it in the cinema, watch people's reactions to the 'scissors-scene'. I was amazed to see hoe genuinely horrified even the most hardened viewers in my cinema were.