re:mote voices

Title: Taking Lives
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Olivier Martinez, Gena Rowlands
Director: DJ Caruso

Taking Lives is perhaps the crime thriller equivalent of Gothika, which was recently un-engaging. To some degree one could kind of see this as an extension of The Bone Collector for Angelina Jolie, another fairly average thriller based on a novel. There she was a rookie cop with enough instinct to be of use to an incapacitated elder cop. Here she is the experienced FBI agent – an expert – allegedly. Initially, some work is done to convince is that this is a woman with a reputation for being quirky and for results. But as the film goes on she becomes implausibly compromised.

One of the problems with Taking Lives is the casting, in the way that it is (at least in theory) high profile – Angelina Jolie and Olivier Martinez as the good guys, and Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland as suspects. And that’s the problem there, at no point do you really have any doubt that the serial killer is one of those two guys, in fact, from the start there is a strong suspicion of which one and to be honest, we aren’t disappointed in that suspicion. As a result, Taking Lives is mechanical, it goes through the motions, creating absolutely no tension or thrills in the process.

The plot follows a young man, who has been killing people over the years and taking their identities. The latest bodies are being found in Montreal, and Jolie is called in as an expert to help an old friend. In theory this creates some friction with the local cops who resent her presence, and is also supposed to provide some humour with the language barriers – the local cops talking in French in the belief that the American won’t understand them – how naïve – yawn!