Reviews

Films

Taking Lives

Directed by DJ Caruso, starring Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke

There's a killer on the loose and what's more, he's a genius of sorts. Well, of course he's a genius - movies like this only have one kind of bad guy, the clever-as-they-come bad guy who wants to pit his skills against the best that law enforcement can offer. Suffice to say, Taking Lives does not offer anything new to the serial killer genre and steers a ho-hum, if convoluted course. But anyone who has seen a movie of this ilk in the past will not be terribly surprised by the outcome or all that thrilled by anything that comes before it.

FBI Agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is summoned to Canada to help track down a murderer whose body count has risen beyond double figures. Illeana is a profiler and soon she establishes that the man they hunt is killing young men and stealing their identities, perhaps out of an utter hatred for his own. It is also suspected that the killer is a twin who may or may not have killed his own brother. During the investigation she begins to develop feelings for a witness, art dealer Costa (Ethan Hawke), who is the only guy that claims to have seen the villain in the act.

An evil twin, an overbearing mother, a beautiful if damaged agent - these are characters lifted from Thrillers For Dummies. Jolie has been down this road before, in The Bone Collector, and she proves that she is better than the material that either films had on offer. Kiefer Sutherland turns up momentarily to add a little menace and Ethan Hawke struggles in a role a little beyond his range. This is a cat and mouse game where the chase will only excite someone who's never seen a serial killer movie before.

Ben Davey

Exit Wounds

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, starring Steven Seagal, DMX

"Don't give me that look," says one of Steven Seagal's onscreen colleagues late in this derivative beat-'em-up. Funny thing is though, Seagal only has one look - a scornful look like you just ran over his cat or stabbed him in the ear. It's one of many unintentionally hilarious moments in Exit Wounds, which brings together a rapper and an old action star in an attempt to bridge the gap between two audience demographics. You may already be aware of Seagal's limited acting range but the rapper, DMX, also ups the ante on the scowl count.

So everybody scowls. All of the time. And why are they scowling? Because half the cast of characters plays bent cops and the other half are trying to bring them to justice. Seagal is, of course, an honest gung-ho cop that gets sent to a precinct chock full of corruption. DMX is an Internet entrepreneur that is trying to frame the cops who framed his little brother. But these are determined dirty cops whose scowls are almost as fierce as the good guys. That is, except for the leader of the bad guys who smiles a lot, so we know that he is really bad.

Comic relief is offered in the form of Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold. If you've seen True Lies, suffice to say that Arnold serves up the same here. Anderson on the other hand is the overweight jolly guy who talks like a ghetto thug, hurls obscenities at women and laughs whole-heartedly at his own material.

However, both are made redundant by the funniest stuff in Exit Wounds - namely, the scowling. There are also several scenes where goons are crushed against cars but if you watch them in slow motion you can see dummies being used. Champagne comedy.

BD

(China Daily 09/14/2007 page20)