THE BONE COLLECTOR RATING: 7.5 / 10 --> Very good movie
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The Montreal Film Festival is where I happened to catch the premiere of this film last night. I got kinda lucky because producer Martin Bregman, director Phillip Noyce, and the main man himself, Denzel Washington sat in the crowd alongside the rest of us. I got even luckier when it turned out that the film was not just another rehashed serial killer thriller, but a rather effective moody/creepy murder mystery, starring a couple of New York City forensics experts.
PLOT: An expert in the field of crime scene forensics suddenly becomes a paraplegic after a horrible on-the-job accident. Four years later, a serial killer is on the loose, and our top cop suddenly develops a high interest in the mysterious case. Seeing that he cannot go to the crime scenes himself, he recruits the help of a young forensics hopeful, enter Angelina Jolie. Together, they attempt to piece together all of the clues in the puzzle, which once resolved, will nab them a killer.
CRITIQUE: Fantastic style, this film spices itself up with some great shots, unique points-of-view angles, an effective chilling mood, and some excellent performances put forth by Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. I must admit that ever since the plethora of "serial killer" films that came flying out after the great success of SEVEN (9/10), I have become harsher and harsher in respect to my criticism of these movies. This film passed my test with flying colors, because it managed to pull me into its game of thrills, with an interesting mystery, some pretty gruesome murder scenes, an engaging score and a nice build-up. Originality in the film's actual premise might not be its strong suit (A serial killer is on the loose...leaving plenty of cryptic clues...let's find him!), but the chemistry between Jolie and Washington make this film much more interesting and captivating to watch.
I also enjoyed a couple of the sidebar performances by Queen Latifah (Don't laugh, she's pretty good in it) and Ed O'Neill (Al Bundy to some of you), in particular. I could have done without Michael Rooker playing the badass cop role. Michael should really start looking into stretching his talent across some characters which aren't bordering on the psychotic. Another thing that I didn't fully appreciate about this film, was the fact that the killer would purposely leave clues at each of the crime scenes. This function was to allow his pursuants a better "chance" of identifying the person, but only if they pieced together a bunch of far-fetched parts of a grand puzzle, which in my opinion, seemed a little extravagant. Having said that, this minor detriment to my enjoyment of the story didn't really seem to bother me as much as I thought it would. And for that, I praise the director's unique vision, the actors' wonderful performances, and the film's creepy feel, which in combination allowed for an entertaining film to unfold. And despite the obvious commonality to Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (Both protagonists are incapacitated during the entire film), I did find myself feeling like I was watching a 90s version of a Hitchcock movie at times.
If you love murder mysteries, you will most likely love this movie, especially if you don't mind gory crime scenes, gruesome details about horrendous murders, and loved SEVEN and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. And watch for this one very cool camera shot which begins on the downtown streets of New York, and pulls back real quick and up and into the room where Denzel spends all of his time in this film. Very slick!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Did you know that Denzel Washington played Dr. Chandler on NBC's TV medical series "St-Elsewhere" for about six years beginning in 1982?? I sure didn't! He has four children with his wife of close to twenty years, Pauletta. He has also learned to develop a much tighter private life, after he uttered a few regrettable words during a 1993 TV interview with Barbara Walters, "Being a star and all of that, temptation is all around, it's all around, you know, and I haven't been perfect. I'll be quite candid about it." Angelina Jolie's full name is Angelina Jolie Voight. She is the daughter of famed actor Jon Voight. "Jolie" means "pretty" in French. Angelina has also appeared in several music videos, including such artists as Meatloaf, Lenny Kravitz, Antonello Venditti and The Lemonheads Queen Latifah's real name is Dana Owens. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, and also has a musical career as a rapper. Her older brother Lance Owens, who was a police officer, died in an accident on the motorcycle that Queen Latifah had bought for him as a present. She still wears the motorcycle key around her neck. Actor Michael Rooker studied the Japanese martial art of Akido before ever establishing himself in Chicago theatre. Director Phillip Noyce makes a small cameo appearance in this film. Watch for him standing inside the library when Angelina Jolie's character makes her trip there. He is standing upright and reading a book. Tall drink of water, he is. He is originally from Australia. And if you didn't think this film reminded you of SEVEN enough, director Noyce has also brought a member of that cast along for this ride as well. Actor Leland Orser, who plays the "crazed man in the massage parlour" in the earlier film, returns as a good buddy of Denzel's in this film. Actor Ed O'Neill is best known for his years of service as the idiot father in the popular FOX sitcom, "Married with Children". What less people know about him is that he once tried out, but was cut by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. He also made his uncredited feature film debut in the 1972 classic, DELIVERANCE, starring Angelina Jolie's dad, Jon Voight. Ed played the "highway patrolman". Producer Martin Bregman has produced five of Al Pacino's movies including SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, SCARFACE, SEA OF LOVE and CARLITO'S WAY. The original music in this film comes from two sources: Craig Armstrong, who has composed music for a few other films, and Mitsou, a Quebec-based pop singer, who receives her first movie composing credit with this film. This film is based on the novel by the same title, written by Jeffrey Deaver. This film was shot in both Montreal, Canada and New York, New York.
Review Date: August 29, 1999
Director: Phillip Noyce
Writer: Jeremy Iacone
Producers: Michael Bregman, Michael Scott Bregman and Louis A.
Stroller
Actors: Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme
Angelina Jolie as Amelia Donaghey
Genre: Thriller
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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