In 10 Words of Less
Se7en's legacy travels to Montreal and finds a nice girl

The Movie
The serial-killer genre has suffered more than its share of losers to go along with the rare home runs like Silence of the Lambs and Se7en. Too often, the focus is misplaced in these films, relying too much on gore or arcane psychology or a shocking twist. So, in the end, you're left with an incomplete film. Then, you get a movie like Taking Lives, which actually has too much movie to work quite right. It's not a bad film, but it's definitely a flawed film.

In one of the best set-up openers I've seen in recent memory, the story is set in motion, in the form of a flashback. The mood of this scene is so opposite that of the rest of the movie that it's extremely effective in putting the audience at ease, so that the film can then stun at will. If the tension and feel of the opening scene had carried through the final reel, this could have been a movie that would be remembered for a long time. Not so for the film on this DVD.

FBI agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) has a special gift of being able to pick up on vibes at murder scenes and on victims. Because of this, she's called in by Montreal cops (Jean-Hugues Anglade, Olivier Martinez and Tcheky Karyo), to help solve a serial-killer case. A murderer is moving from victim to victim, living the lives he's ending. With just a body and a grave, Scott's expertice is needed.

Fortunately, there's a couple of coincidences that help the case. One is a witness, art dealer James Costa (Ethan Hawke), and the other is the murderer's mother, Mrs. Asher (Gena Rowlands), who says she saw her supposedly dead son on a ferry. Both stories are sketchy, and both of these people come under suspicion because of their connections to the case.

As they have their territorial squabbles, to say that the dectectives rely on hunches and machina ex deus is an understatement. Without some help, this case would never get solved. There are so many coincidences and chance encounters that one's ability to suspend disbelief gets a bit stretched. And that's before even mentioning Keifer Sutherland's character.

Of course, when you have actors as pretty as Jolie and Hawke, and an actress like Jolie, whose clothes come off at the drop of the hat, you're going to get at least one sex scene, and that's how they're selling this director's cut. Whether this development has any place in the plot, logic or reality doesn't seem to matter if we can get a look at Jolie's juggs. And we do, which should be good for a couple hundred more sales.

Sadly, as far as the plot twists go, I figured out what was coming well before it arrived, which is pretty rare for me. I never saw the ending of The Sixth Sense coming, as that kind of thing doesn't happen for me. Not this time, though. I think one of the real problems was the pacing, as it telegraphed what came next, because nothing else really could happen. The story is essentially over with five minutes remaining, yet the movie soldiers on, so you know what's coming. That's a major problem for a film which needs to mislead the audience in order to deliver its payoff.

The Salton Sea director DJ Caruso knows how to acheive a dark, moody atmosphere, but the story he's working from didn't deserve such treatment, nor did it deserve such a quality cast. But their efforts raise what could have been a weak Lifetime movie of the week to the level of a late-night cable movie you just can't turn off, though you really should go to bed.

The DVD
On a single DVD, you get the unrated director's cut, in a very wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which provides an additional six minutes that weren't seen in theatres, nor on the R-rated full-frame DVD. What was added though, is unclear. It was nice of Warner Brothers to reward OAR fans with the special version of the film though, while giving full-frame viewers a standard release. The menus are slightly animated, with scene selections, language options, subtitles and special features. The scene-selection menus are static, breaking the film into 29 parts on five pages, and contain at least three unfortunate spoilers.

The Quality
This is a dark movie, and the DVD does a nice job of keeping things in the shadows without getting muddy. The color palette is very cold (except for the love scene), and you get a good look at everything, with a crisp, clean transfer. There were no visible problems here.

The 5.1 soundtrack is the perfect complement to the beautiful transfer. Deep and dynamic, the mix brings Philip Glass' intense score home with impressive results, combining with an acceptable foley track. The surrounds are often active, creating an involving aural field, along with a good amount of bass to give the soundtrack depth.

The Extras
Aside from the director's cut of the film, this DVD has a gag reel, a behind-the-scenes documentary and the theatrical trailer. The gag reel (full-frame, 2.0) seems out of place, considering the nature of this film, and none of the footage is particularly laugh-inducing. The theatrical trailer (widescreen, 2.0) is lengthy and may give away a bit too much of the story, but is the kind of preview that makes you want to watch the movie.

The most comprehensive of the extras is the behind-the-scenes footage, "Crime Lab: A Taking Lives Documentary" (full-frame, 2.0). This 21-minute look at the making of the movie is broken up into four parts which can be watched separately or in one block. "The Art of Collaboration" is about the way the cast and crew work together, while "Profiling a Director" focuses on helmer DJ Caruso. In "Bodies of Evidence," the actors' work is explored, leaving the editing process to "Puzzle Within the Puzzle." There's a lot of EPK-ish apple polishing done here, but there is some interesting stuff as well. Do not watch them before watching the film though, as there are copious spoilers revealed.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of serial killer films, this one will make due until the next great film is created. There are some real scares and some gore that's surprising for such a mainstream film. One scene in particular shocked me in its brutality. But overall, the film's inability to pick a genre and stick to it doomed it to a less-than-perfect performance. That's too bad for a film with such a promising beginning. Give it a rent unless you can find a copy to buy that's very cheap.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.