I am always intrigued by serial killer movies. They fascinate the morbid side of my mind. Suspect Zero is a bizarre movie in both the good and bad ways. It wants to be a combination of Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, with a touch of psychic "voodoo" thrown in to differentiate it from the crowd. What it wants and what it is are two completely different things. This is an uninspired, confusing mess. The story goes in so many different directions at the same time, I have no idea which plot point to follow. OK, we start with a murder of a creepy, but seemingly, innocent man: begin the hunt. Wait, there's another body in a car nearby, who's this guy? Can we connect them? Not yet. Moving on.... Wait, what the hell is with the big, black truck? Never mind, there's a guy over here having hallucinations about the murders, sketching them, and sending them to the FBI guy. Who's he? We'll find out soon, but not yet. Wait, he's a psychic? On and on it went. For every question the writers presented, they resolved a handful while leaving the vast majority unanswered and me in a confused daze. By the time it ended, I looked like a dog trying to understand quantum physics. The climax was exciting though, but it was nowhere near good enough to make sense of the other 91 minutes.
Aaron Eckhart is as intense as usual, using those crazy eyes of his to show how serious he is about solving these murders. He seems to be one of those rare actors who can completely overact by doing nothing, it's impressive to see. Ben Kingsley just confuses me sometimes. I read somewhere that "..he is the best actor in the worst movies." I am going to have to agree with this. He plays the tortured former agent very well, but come on Ben...two words: quality control. Learn them, live them. Carrie-Anne Moss is in this as well, but I couldn't figure out why. She just looked confused and out of place.
A miss on just about every level, all Suspect Zero made me want to do was go watch Copycat, a good, bad movie (sorry Stef, I know you love this one) about the hunt for serial killers. Just an observation Hollywood, but it seems the best serial killer movies have a nice balance between the hunt for the killer, and learning about the killer's origins and history. I was never invested in who the killer was, why he was killing, or whether he got caught or paid for his crimes. Better luck next time. 4.5/10.
See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!
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