KNIGHT MOVES
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Running Length: 1:51 Rated: R (Language, violence, nudity)
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Daniel Baldwin, Tom Skerritt, Diane Lane Director: Carl Schenkel Producers: Ziad el-Khoury and Jean Luc Defait Screenplay: Brad Mirman Music: Anne Dudley Released by Interstar
Peter Sanderson (Christopher Lambert) is one the world's most accomplished grandmasters of chess. During the course of his latest match, a victory at which would make him eligible to play for the international title, someone decides to take the game one step further and play it for real--with young female bodies representing the pieces. Captain Frank Sedman (Tom Skerritt) and Detective Andy Wagner (Daniel Baldwin) begin investigating the serial killings, and the trail leads them to Sanderson. Psychiatrist Kathy Sheppard (Diane Lane) is called in to evaluate his sanity. As the killings continue, the police must decide whether Sanderson is the killer, or merely a pawn in someone else's game.
KNIGHT MOVES is a walking cliche. Plot elements have been borrowed from almost every mystery and thriller since the genre was invented. Red herrings, stupid characters, and false endings abound. In all one-hundred and eleven minutes, there is not a single original idea. This complete bankruptcy of innovation leads to a movie-going experience that is not only uninvolving, but somewhat tedious.
One of the most annoying things that can happen in a mystery/thriller is for the audience to be able to figure out puzzles before the characters do. This happens regularly in KNIGHT MOVES. Each of the four main characters is given ample opportunity to commit a number of inexplicably stupid mistakes. With a police force headed by idiots like Sedman and Wagner, it's no wonder so many people get killed in their town. They never even put a tail on their chief suspect.
I don't enjoy movies that feature foolish people, and I like them even less when those characters are one-dimensional. Lambert's Sanderson is cold and impassive. He's supposed to be the protagonist, but he inspires nothing more than apathy. Baldwin's Wagner is so belligerent that it's impossible not to find him offensive, and Skerritt's Sedman isn't much better. The only one who's remotely likable is Diane Lane's Sheppard, and she's too often relegated to the role of the impotent victim.
Another problem with KNIGHT MOVES is the atrocious dialogue. It's really bad--so bad, in fact, that it makes some of Madonna's lines in BODY OF EVIDENCE sound believable, and that's difficult to do. Someone should clue writer Brad Mirman into how people really talk. One scene in particular, with Lane and Lambert on a beach, made me feel an acute sense of embarrassment for the involved parties. It was difficult to keep from chuckling, and humor was definitely not the intention.
The cinematography, which is credited to Dietrich Lohmann, is dark and dreary. Almost every scene, whether inside or out, is shot in dim lighting, frequently making it difficult to identify characters or their actions. Lohmann was probably trying to establish a mood, but for that to work, he needed a script worth making the attempt for.
Did I guess the ending? No, but a more apropos question might be whether I cared. The answer is the same. By the time the tired climax rolled around, I was more interested in which route to take on the drive home than in how KNIGHT MOVES was going to be resolved.
This film has not received national release, and such selective distribution is usually indicative of a poor product. Several large metropolitan areas are being spared the indignity of having KNIGHT MOVES use up theater screens. If you're in one of those places, consider yourself lucky. If not, pretend that you are. As far as this film is concerned--to borrow a phrase from another game--the production team has struck out.
Rating: 4.5 (D, *1/2)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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