Taking Lives Year: 2004 Director: D.J. Caruso Written by: Jon Bokenkamp Threat: Psychopath Weapon of Choice: Rock Based upon: novel - Michael Pye IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

Rish's Reviews
Taking Lives is another one of those serial killer cat-and-mouse "who is this guy and why is he toying with us?" flicks which come out a lot. But this one's set in Canada! It was released on the same day as the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which didn't seem wise (especially since Dawn made a gazillion dollars more), but this was the one my date wanted to see.
Yes, folks, I saw this on a date. But don't worry, I'm sure it won't happen again.
We meet Mitchell, a kid who reminded me way too much of me, starting off his career as a murderer who kills those he admires, then takes their place. The years go by, and French-Canadian police call up an expert from the FBI, Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie), who has an intuitive way of knowing how murderers think, which may have something to do with her habit of laying down at crime scenes (but probably has more to do with the fact that Hollywood makes way too many of these cookie-cutter serial killer movies). When the killer strikes again, the police bring in Ethan Hawke, a brooding artist who offers to sketch the killer and help bring him to justice. And other stuff happens and she finds herself attracted to him and Kiefer Sutherland creeps around and Mommy had twins but one was evil and one died, even though there's only one child in the pictures. And more stuff. They ain't paying me for this, you know.
In looking over my notes, the word I have written most often was interesting. No, it wasn't that the word I used was interesting, it was that the word was literally "Interesting." The film was interesting, with several twists and red herrings and turns I didn't see coming. In fact, I'm still trying to figure out one of the major plotpoints.
I'm no fan of Angelina Jolie. I wouldn't say that I hate her, per se, but I could, since I do. And I thought she was very good in this. I even found myself feeling a) quite sorry for her in one scene, and b) quite attracted to her in more than one scene. Weird.
Ethan Hawke was also quite good, in a role that would've been difficult to pull off (for most of the movie, he plays the typically female 'fearful target' role). I've never really been a fan of his either, but it's nice to be impressed.
Jolie is also naked in this movie, if that encourages you to go see it.
The ending left me a little dry, but I don't think it will to most people. The trip we are taken on works well until you think about it. I think a couple moments were dishonest, just to throw us off (although it's a lot worse in Scream 3 or anything Ehren Kruger wrote), but again, I doubt most people will care. After all, Terminator 3 made 150 million dollars.
Best Scare: The biggest scare of the film is also the most improbable with the killer popping up for no real reason except to scare the audience. I'd Recommend It To: People who like serial killer movies. And Canadians.
Note: The film begins and ends with one of the greatest songs of all time, Bad by U2, which makes me sad.

The tyranist's thoughts
I won't say that I was really looking forward to this one, but when it finally popped to the top of my NetFlix queue, I didn't do what I usually do and move it to the bottom again because I'm dreading seeing it. I'm half glad I didn't.
This is the type of movie that I mostly like. I enjoy the mystery, the suspense, and the atmosphere of choice for these (mostly rainy/cold cityscapes, with a couple creepy rural sets). The stories are nearly always the same and the tropes are pretty obvious, but they are comfortable for me. I've seen dozens of these and it is a lot like reading a book by a favourite author, I pretty much always know what I'm getting.
Now I'm probably a bigger fan of Angelina Jolie than Rish, but not by much. She is most of what I thought was wrong with the movie. I suppose that as tough female cops go, she is okay, but I had a really hard time getting a clean line on her character. It wasn't that she was complex, it was that I don't think the filmmaker could make up his mind what he wanted her to be. And the movie suffered a little for it.
I did rent the unrated version, but I honestly couldn't tell you what made it more evil than the rated version. Maybe it was the gratuitously long sex scene.
I don't know that I would recommend it. If you are a fan of this type of movie, it might be nice to curl up with, otherwise, there isn't much here that is new.

Total Skulls: 13

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?