COPYCAT
A film review by Choo Eng Aun
Copyright 1995 Choo Eng Aun
(Wide Screen)
Starring : Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermount Mulroney,
Harry Connick Jr., John Rothman
Produced by : Amen Milchan & Mark Tarlow
Directed by : Jon Amiel
Running Time : 1hr 55mins
A Warner Bros. Release
With stars like Sigourney Weaver ("Alien" trilogy) and Academy Award Winner Holly Hunter (THE PIANO, RAISING ARIZONA, etc.) together in a single Hollywood production, one would immediately identify the film as a potential Academy Award hot shot. Sadly for COPYCAT, though tightly scripted and nicely plot, is still at heart, a typical Hollywood thriller.
Helen (Weaver), after a traumatic near death encounter with a serial killer, Darryl (Harry Connick Jr.), has developed a phobia for being outdoors, so to speak. Incidentally, Helen is also an expert on the subject of serial killers, which make her a juicy target for serial killer wannabes. A year has passed and strange deaths begin to terrorise the city of San Francisco. Detective Monahan (Hunter) and Getz (Mulroney), baffled by the unorthodox methods of killing used by the killer, seeks the professional help of Helen, who, as expected was reluctant at first.
COPYCAT "borrows" a lot from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and in most cases, it did work. But COPYCAT tries to be a little bit more by immersing the audience into the lives of its main characters to give them more believability, this was rather unnecessary as the scenes seem to disrupt the mood of the entire film and also ... much of the time wasted could've been used to build up the suspense and injected with drama. Even so, Weaver and Hunter act very well in their own departments ... Weaver being the vulnerable yet strong-within character (as in Aliens) and Hunter being the short, tough, Texan speaking cop (as in Raising Arizona). Harry Connick Jr., a very good jazz singer, shines as the imprisoned serial killer a la Hannibal Lecter.
Which comes to the moment of judgement (drum roll please...). COPYCAT is a good thriller. Although the plot is highly predictable and one can actually predict the rest of the movie after about 45 minutes into the show, COPYCAT survives from the moments of anticipation where the audience are held on to their seats, in anticipation of the killers next immediate move. This worked pretty well and will offer audiences a couple of unexpected jolts. Nice movie to bring your girlfriend to....
Action : **--- Suspense: ****- Drama : ***--
Overall Rating : 7.0 out of 10 (definitely watchable, not memorable stuff
though..)
--
CHOO ENG AUN
EMAIL : eng20172@leonis.nus.sg
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