Another serial killer movie more "Se7en" than "Zodiac" but nowhere near as fresh as either despite having three Oscar-winning actors heading the cast. An unusually subdued Denzel Washington is the slightly grizzled older cop, (been there, done that), Rami Malek is the young detective desperate to shake off any resemblance to Freddie Mercury and Jared Leto is the probable killer. It's a slow, handsome-looking film, so determined not to be sensational that it veers towards the dull side. The writer and director is John Lee Hancock so I guess the blame lies largely with him.
Denzel's character, the great detective whose intuition is almost superhuman, is a cliche too far; he's now the right age to channel his inner Morgan Freeman while Malek is just sleep-walking through his role. Leto, however, is outstanding, giving the movie a much needed kick as well as a touch of class, acting his co-stars off the screen though that fine and underrated actor Terry Kinney gives a lift to his few scenes as Malek's boss. Still, despite the cast and John Schwartzman's superb cinematography this could be just another episode of "C.S.I. Crime Scene". A real disappointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment