Amongst the genre of Serial Killer movies, probably one of the top ranking movies would undeniable be The Bone Collector. And it could also rank at director Phillip Noyce’s best work over the 60 odd years that he has walked the earth and over the 40 odd years that he has been in the world of direction (Can you believe that? The man directed his first when he was 19???)
The Bone Collector revolves around Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) who is a forensics expert. 4 years back to the date, Rhyme or Linc as he is called, is incapacitated for life. As he is collecting evidence in an abandoned metro tunnel, a loose beam falls down onto him, leaving him paralayzed the neck below and committed to his bed under the able care of Nurse Thelma (Queen Latifah).
Somewhere else in the city, an unsuspecting couple returning from some work find themselves in a cab that they pick up from the airport in the wee hours of the morning. They want to go to Fifth Avenue and are exhausted. They doze off in the car only to realize a few minutes later that they are being taken, literally, for a ride.
A few more hours later, one of them is found close to an unused railway line with a finger chopped off but the wedding ring still on it. The woman will meet a similar end fate in a while but that’s not because a local cop, Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) is 911ed to the scene of the crime.
Impressed with her presence of mind, Rhyme asks her to join the team to help save the woman and maybe some more such unsuspecting people from the clutches of a killer who apparently has an agenda.
Like most serial killer movies, the thrill here is in establishing a connection between the murders and finding a pattern. Noyce builds up the suspense slowly but surely. Not in a Hitchcockian manner (use of long pauses and music) but by piecing together a whole set of clues that appear one after the other. I must warn you, it is a dialogue intensive movie.
Also, be wary of the fact the murders are shown in as graphic a manner as could have been allowed in 1999. Very tell it like it is. Very in your face. I loved The Bone Collector 10 years back when I saw it for the first time. I loved it when I saw it for the nth time, again last afternoon. 7.5 on 10. Must watch if you haven’t seen it yet.
Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI56162Lz0A
The Bone Collector revolves around Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) who is a forensics expert. 4 years back to the date, Rhyme or Linc as he is called, is incapacitated for life. As he is collecting evidence in an abandoned metro tunnel, a loose beam falls down onto him, leaving him paralayzed the neck below and committed to his bed under the able care of Nurse Thelma (Queen Latifah).
Somewhere else in the city, an unsuspecting couple returning from some work find themselves in a cab that they pick up from the airport in the wee hours of the morning. They want to go to Fifth Avenue and are exhausted. They doze off in the car only to realize a few minutes later that they are being taken, literally, for a ride.
A few more hours later, one of them is found close to an unused railway line with a finger chopped off but the wedding ring still on it. The woman will meet a similar end fate in a while but that’s not because a local cop, Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) is 911ed to the scene of the crime.
Impressed with her presence of mind, Rhyme asks her to join the team to help save the woman and maybe some more such unsuspecting people from the clutches of a killer who apparently has an agenda.
Like most serial killer movies, the thrill here is in establishing a connection between the murders and finding a pattern. Noyce builds up the suspense slowly but surely. Not in a Hitchcockian manner (use of long pauses and music) but by piecing together a whole set of clues that appear one after the other. I must warn you, it is a dialogue intensive movie.
Also, be wary of the fact the murders are shown in as graphic a manner as could have been allowed in 1999. Very tell it like it is. Very in your face. I loved The Bone Collector 10 years back when I saw it for the first time. I loved it when I saw it for the nth time, again last afternoon. 7.5 on 10. Must watch if you haven’t seen it yet.
Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI56162Lz0A
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