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Dom Robinson reviews
They must see as one…They must act as one…
They must think as one…Before another victim falls.
Columbia TriStar
- Cert:
- Cat.no: CDR 30597
- Running time: 113 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, German
- Subtitles: 17 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailers (Bone Collector and Devil In A Blue Dress),Featurette, Filmographies, Isolated Music Score, Director’s Commentary
Director:
- Philip Noyce
(Blind Fury, The Bone Collector, Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm, Patriot Games, The Saint, Sliver)
Producers:
- Martin Bregman, Louis A. Stroller and Michael Bregman
Screenplay:
- Jeremy Iacone
Music:
- Craig Armstrong
Cast:
- Lincoln Rhyme: Denzel Washington
Amelia Donaghy: Angelina Jolie
Thelma: Queen Latifah
Capt. Howard Cheney: Michael Rooker
Det. Kenny Solomon: Mike McGlone
Eddie Ortiz: Luis Guzmán
Richard Thompson: Leland Orser
Det. Paulie Sellitto: Ed O’Neill
The Bone Collectoris a Silence of the Lambs-style thriller with a different, but stillstandard, twist. Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) has been leftparalysed after a near-fatal accident, but after some nutjob starts killingpeople, Rhyme recruits street cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) tobe his eyes, ears, etc. while being out and about. The film is so-calledbecause the killer takes a piece of the victim’s bone each time. Ho hum.
Denzel Washington seems to play himself throughout the entire film, or atleast the same character he’s played for years with a bit of “Fitz” thrown in itseems when he pulls deductions out of thin air thus rather stretching the bounds ofcredibility, Angelina Jolie looks rather bored as the cop who just wants tostart her new desk job without getting involved with forensics. The rest of the timeshe pouts at the camera like a startled bunny, while Queen Latifah certainlydoesn’t push the boat out as one of Rhyme’s home-help’s, Thelma.
Michael Rooker‘s character is the token arrogant superior, while Al Bundy,aka Ed O’Neill, tries to make himself seem a little more professional thanhis more usual character.
How many more ‘thrillers’, though, must we suffer where the killer leaves suchobvious clues lying about the place? And there’s laughable moments to be had whenhim and her are in contact over a microphone/headset link and the camera occasionallyfocuses on those sat around Denzel all staring into space with a supposedlythought-provoking look in their eye like a statue, but they look more like they’retrying to work out what to have for dinner.
And why use a microphone/headset link anyway, when, after you see the amount of expensiveequipment set up in Denzel’s home, they could have used a headset with a camera? Duh!
And how is he able to zoom in on photographs of previous homicides, which magicallyfocus on the close-ups?
And why do they try to create the only tension they have by making Denzel have seizures?In his condition, he’ll turn into a vegetable one day anyway, so who cares when he dies?Even Denzel’s character wants to “self-terminate” as they call it, so let him go!
The picture has a hazy look to it for most of the film, although that probably won’t betoo obvious when watching from the usual viewing position, but there are plenty of flecksthroughout. The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio and is anamorphic, whilethe average bitrate is 6.10Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 8Mb/s.
The sound is good when it’s called for, such as a train early on, but too often thedialogue seems rather quiet. Most of the rest of the time though, it isn’t used toits full advantage.
Extras : Chapters :Just 20 chapters this time round, so it could use a few more. Why not the usual 28 fromColumbia? That’s almost always a decent amount. Languages/Subtitles :Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and German. Subtitles in 17 languages :English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, Croatian,German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian and Arabic. And there’s more… :Trailers for both this film and Devil In A Blue Dress, a 22-minuteFeaturette full of the usual public-relations-chat mixed in with film clips,Filmographies for director Noyce, plus Denzel and Angelina, an IsolatedMusic Score and a feature-length Director’s Commentary. Menu :The main menu is animated attempting to reflect the supposed creepy nature of the film,while the rest are static.
Overall, if you’re a fan of Cracker and still can’t get enough of that type ofcrime-solving where everything the main character says is basically the solution tothe crime, this will be worth a look, but if you want something that’s not as obvious asit can be, steer well clear.
The Region 1 DVD contains the quote, “Intense suspense thriller”. No, it’s the mostcliche-ridden and dull film I’ve seen all year, with an ending so obvious, even thedead could see it coming.
That said, it could spawn a cheapo American TV series where one cop does all the legworkand the token cripple merely has to, literally, lift a finger.
Oh – and to add insult to injury, the song used over the end credits, “Don’t Give Up”,sung by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush, cruelly has a whole verse ripped out. Gabrielsings his first verse, which is followed by Kate’s “reply” to his second verse.
Expect this movie on Channel 5 anytime soon… 🙂
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.