Saturday, August 28, 2004

Suspect Zero Is Not Suspect

Ooh the puns (homonyms too?) run rife in my blood!!!

Suspect Zero stars Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley and Carrie-Anne Moss. I refuse to start linking to movies those three have been in because I don't where I would stop. I will mention the writer, Zak Penn, because, after looking on IMDB, I realized that this is the guy who also wrote (either the story, the screenplay or both) Last Action Hero, PCU, Behind Enemy Lines and X2 (aka X-Men 2). He's also one of the writers for Elektra, a movie I eagerly anticipate.

A quick non-sequitor consisting of a semi-random amusing quote from Mrs. Carrie-Anne Moss: "After The Matrix, I cannot wear sunglasses. As soon as I put them on, people recognise me."

IMDB Summary:
FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart) has been put on leave for 6 months, demoted, and reassigned to Albuquerque, because he violated the civil rights of a serial killer, Raymond Starkey. Starkey was living in Mexico at the time, when Mackelway brought him back to America in the trunk of his car. Starkey was eventually set free upon the world. Mackelway arrives in Albuquerque, and his first case is the murder of a traveling salesman, Harold Speck, who has a zero mark on his body. The FBI was called to the scene, because the body was in a car located just across the state line. Soon afterwards, he investigates two other murders. Raymond Starkey was the third victim. All the victims had the same zero mark on their body.

At first, the murders looked random, and then Mackelway begins to connect the dots. The victims are all serial killers, and someone is going around killing them. He gets a lead that Benjamin O'Ryan (Ben Kingsley) may have some connection to the murders, and he begins to track down O'Ryan. He finds out that O'Ryan was once an FBI agent with special skills, trained to use 'remote viewing' to see what the serial killer sees. This is a dark movie dealing with the subject of serial killers. Sometimes it is hard to follow the clues that the movie reveals, but it will keep you guessing, and hold your attention to the very end. (Paramount Pictures, Run time 1:40, Rated R)
Btw, I don't feel bad reprinting so much of the story since the preview gives you all of this anyways.

Suspect Zero is a great movie, reminding me in spirit of The Silence of the Lambs and/or The Bone Collector. Suspect is equally dark and mysterious. You learn as Agent Mackelway does concerning the serial murders and O'Ryan's involvement in things. There aren't any gruesome or bloody shots in the film. It's very clean in that respect and I'm not sure if such gratuitous aspects would have helped or hindered. Either way, this is a good movie. I liked the plot, I very much liked the actors and actress(es) involved.

I also particularly took note of the cinematography. For example, the first time you see Ben Kingsley, you only see his distinctive outline through a mostly-glass door. Then the shot is as if looking up at the door from the floor. The door opens and you see a shoe. (So you're actually upside down looking down at the door.) I just loved that shot. So strange and mildly disturbing. I don't know what it was and this was only a few minutes into the movie so it wasn't building on anything per se, but it just seemed so different and unexpected to me. Very typical of the rest of the film.

Anyways, I really enoyed this movie. My only criticism would be that it didn't really explain everything in the end, or at least not sufficiently so as to give me a feeling of "oh yeah" at the end. When I left, I was still digesting what had happened and how it fit together to produce the overall arc of the tale. In all honesty, while seeming somewhat complex as I was watching it, afterwards I realized that the plot wasn't all that thick or complicated. Just a mild warning there.

ALAN'S MOVIE RATING: Theatre-worthy. I don't know if I'll buy it but I definitely recommend seeing it in the theatre if you like suspense movies and/or the actors and actress(es) involved. Quick yay for Ben Kingsley (and Carrie-Anne Moss)!