The movie had a very interesting DVD cover, and being a sucka for grafixx I picked it up, judging this book by it’s cover !
Those of you who haven’t seen this movie, and don’t wanna know who the killer is and spoil it for yourselves I suggest you don’t read the plot.
Starring: Angelina Jolie as FBI agent Illeana Scott
Olivier Martinez as Inspector/detective Paquette
Ethan Hawke as Martin/ Costa
Kiefer Sutherland as Hart
Director: D.J. Caruso
Angelina Jolie
First time I noticed that AJ is left handed, makes me happy to see more south paws like me.
Aj has a bewitching beauty, compelling lips, her gorgeous expressive eyes.........babe-a-licious !!....... though I dunno the hype about Julia Roberts, AJ is far more beautiful.
AJ seems to be in the lead with Juila Roberts nowadays where the scripts are moulded for her. Just as Julia is the lead in all her movies and the actor is secondary to her. Girl interrupted, Lara Croft and now Taking lives, she seems to be the lead in all movies now.
This is not AJ’s first serial killer movie, she’s been in Bone collector before, which was quite an interesting movie. It had Denzel Washington in it........ you put that man in a commercial...... he’ll end up getting an Oscar !
AJ plays the role of Illeana Scott an FBI agent called to help solve a serial killer’s case in Montreal, Canada (FBI solving case in Canada?).
AJ’s acting as an FBI agent is credible, she plays a sober, smart woman who is really good at her job. Her sharp quick observations, body language reading and behaviour analysis is portrayed very well. She is convincing as an FBI agent, and sexy in the Mustang !
Ethan Hawke
Training Day with Denzel W. and Gattaca with Uma Thuram are among his notable movies, many others of his I haven’t seen.
EH looks more like Kevin Bacon to me here. Everytime I saw him her I compared him to Kevin Spacey as a serial killer and I don’t think he was a fraction of it.
He adds justice to his role and all efforts are made to be a convincing calm serial killer but he’s not quite there... you know. I mean he has acted well but I’m unable to accept him in that role, he doesn’t look dangerous as they have shown his character to be. He has this smirk on him throughout.
Oliver Martinez
OM has been acting in Spanish and French movies, his recent Hollywood movies are Unfaithful and SWAT.
He is considered to be the Brad Pitt in France. As he is an ex-boxer, the paparazzi keep their distance from him, he is known for punching them in France.
I think the movie was made in Montreal/Quebec to cover up for OM’s french accent. I loved his acting in SWAT as the bad guy, he carried that off pretty well. He’s always shown as being a French guy, even in Unfaithful.
OM plays detective Paquette who is a toughie and cannot stand another department’s agent assisting them in this case, and that too a woman. He doesn’t have too much in the movie really, it’s completely AJ’s show. OM does the few scenes given to him well, but nothing exceptional.
Director D.J. Caruso directed the drug fiasco The Salton Sea starring Val Kilmer, which I think was a really wierd and confused production. It was a crazy and boring movie but has some teeny-weeny interesting parts in it.
His direction is very good, his camera angles are ingenious. I particularly like how she focuses on Angelina’s observation of everything in detail.
The movie
The plot is not very original, and may times you feel you are watching another version of the classic Se7en, with gruesome disfigured corpses and tortured victims. The movie tried too hard to be Se7en but fails.
The whole movie is based in Canada, why Canada ? saving budget?
The movie starts of in 1983 in Canada, showing the serial killer to be quite young and how it started killing and taking over his victim’s identities.
AJ is an FBI agent called in to Montreal to investigate and study the behaviour of the serial killer. Oliver Martinez is the detective on this case who is not happy at all with her joining them.
They question a witness (Ethan) found near a victim’s body who claims it was not him but another man and he as giving CPR to the victim. AJ interogates him and with her sharp skills analyzes his body language, tone of voice, actions and blood on his cuffs. She assures he’s not the killer.
Ethan Hawke is an artist living by selling paintings.Ethan works closely with the cops to find the killer as AJ thinks Ethan is the next victim and the possible buyer of his paintings is the killer.
The twins story adds to ruining the movie further, becoz the director puts it in your mind that it could be his twin brother who is still alive.
Kiefer Sutherland appears for 5 minutes in the whole movie, and the director tries to show that he is the possible psychopathic killer they are in search of, but it was too predictable that it’s Ethan.
Ethan fakes his so-called kidnapping by Keifer and has an accident with the car where Keifer is killed. Everyone’s happy the killer is dead.
Angelina falls for Ethan, they make love. After killing his own mother, Ethan escapes from the police as Angelina witnesses the murder in the hospital lift.
AJ is terminated from the FBI for associating with the killer. 7 months later she is in a cabin and pretends to be pregnant. Ethan comes there and attacks her she kills him. The End.
Overall
With serial killer movies like Bone collector, Silence of the lambs and the extra-ordinary se7en this movie is a let-down. The perfomances of all the actors is good, the direction and camera angles are superb. The locations add to the movie, but a serial killer movies sounds original in US than Canada.
Some gruesome scenes of bodies. The plot is really weak and the killer is predictable. A dissaponiter (no such word !)
Notable quotes from the movie
’’He’s like a hermit crab, he outgrows one shell and then starts looking for a new one.’’
’’Hey if you ever been fishin the bait always dies’’
Notable scenes
When Jolie responds in French to Martinez.
Angelina making love to Ethan (all the under 18’s in MS- fast forward this !) Original Sin?
My heart skipped a beat when he stabs her in the stomach, imagine stabbing a pregnant woman ! Eehhh.. these things really must not be shown really.
Mistakes/ confusions
No one checked whether Ethan Hawke was really Costa?
The man under the bed seemed to have a built like Keifer not Ethan.
If Ethan is not an artist, and is living the life the life of one of his victims- how did he give the cops a sketch ?
When the pregnant AJ is putting together the lamp in the baby’s room, she turns it on- doesn’t it have to be plugged in first ?
Movie time :103 min
Official Site: https://takinglives.warnerbros.com/flash.html
For Oliver Martinez’s fans :https://oliviermartinez.net
For AJ’s fans: https://angelina.so-rocks.com
https://angelinajolie.com/