The Bone Collector (1999)
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Lincoln Rhyme was the department's top homicide detective and leading expert in criminal forensics until an injury left him paralyzed, depressed, and incapable of working. But when a gruesome murder in Manhattan leaves detectives baffled, they call on Rhyme to help solve the mystery. Amelia Donaghy, a rookie cop whose quick thinking preserved a gruesome murder scene, is enlisted by Rhyme to be his on-the-scene forensics expert. With Amelia reluctantly acting as Rhyme's able-bodied go-between, the pair piece together cryptic clues the killer leaves behind at the scene of the crime, hoping to catch the grisly serial killer.
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I began to think of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window and his fateful confrontation with murderer Raymond Burr.
Ed O'Neill co-stars as a cop, and Queen Latifah is a bedside nurse named Thelma, in obvious homage to the performance of Thelma Ritter in The Bone Collector's many-times-better source, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.
Its plot, by Jeffery Deaver, adapted for the screen by Jeremy Iacone, is tight and intriguing, along the lines of Kiss The Girls or The Silence Of The Lambs.
Some films have used this stereotype for big-time box-office and critical success ( Seven , The Silence of the Lambs); still some flopped (Copycat, Kiss the Girls; the latter was horrible, though it did serviceably at the box-office).
Reflect for a brief second why Buffalo Bill skinned women in "The Silence Of The Lambs," and why the killer in "Seven" used the infamous seven deadly sins as his trademark.
Offering no originality (unlike 1995's "Copycat"), no realism (unlike 1990's "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"), no intelligence (unlike 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs"), no surprises (unlike "Se7en"), and not one character we get to know well enough to care about (unlike all of the above), the film is a lifeless product that is tiresomely directed by Noyce (who helmed such strong films as 1992's "Patriot Games" and 1994's "Clear and Present Danger").
Still, for true genre fans competence is nothing to sneeze at, and Aussie director Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger") combines the creepy atmospherics and the puzzling forensic details -- old iron bolts, piles of crushed oyster shell, bits of 19th century paper -- with almost mathematical precision.
But Washington makes us buy it and director Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger") does manage to keep "The Bone Collector" respectable throughout most of its running time, maintaining tension without going too far overboard on the gory visual details of what this killer does to his prey as he taunts Rhymes with evidentiary enigmas that he races against time to solve before each victim's demise.
Having previously helmed the successful suspense thriller, "Dead Calm"(as well as the Tom Clancy flicks "Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games"), Noyce obviously knows a thing or two about the genre and shouldn't have to resort to such cheap and amateurish tactics.
Offering no originality (unlike 1995's "Copycat"), no realism (unlike 1990's "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"), no intelligence (unlike 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs"), no surprises (unlike "Se7en"), and not one character we get to know well enough to care about (unlike all of the above), the film is a lifeless product that is tiresomely directed by Noyce (who helmed such strong films as 1992's "Patriot Games" and 1994's "Clear and Present Danger").
Since then, he's cranked out mediocre thrillers like Patriot Games (1992), Sliver (1993), and The Saint (1997).
Still, for true genre fans competence is nothing to sneeze at, and Aussie director Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger") combines the creepy atmospherics and the puzzling forensic details -- old iron bolts, piles of crushed oyster shell, bits of 19th century paper -- with almost mathematical precision.
It's well-stocked with cruel torture and psychopathic behavior, but also contains good work by its two leads and director Phillip Noyce (Clear And Present Danger).
But Washington makes us buy it and director Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger") does manage to keep "The Bone Collector" respectable throughout most of its running time, maintaining tension without going too far overboard on the gory visual details of what this killer does to his prey as he taunts Rhymes with evidentiary enigmas that he races against time to solve before each victim's demise.
Having previously helmed the successful suspense thriller, "Dead Calm"(as well as the Tom Clancy flicks "Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games"), Noyce obviously knows a thing or two about the genre and shouldn't have to resort to such cheap and amateurish tactics.
Director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger), who believes performances come first in moviemaking, says When youre making that your number one aim, thats the cake, and the cinematic flourishes become the icing on the cake.…
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Offering no originality (unlike 1995's "Copycat"), no realism (unlike 1990's "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"), no intelligence (unlike 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs"), no surprises (unlike "Se7en"), and not one character we get to know well enough to care about (unlike all of the above), the film is a lifeless product that is tiresomely directed by Noyce (who helmed such strong films as 1992's "Patriot Games" and 1994's "Clear and Present Danger").
As serial-killer thrillers go, "The Bone Collector" is nowhere near the class of "Se7en" or "Silence of the Lambs," in both of whose footsteps it dutifully treads.
Not even in Se7en were the clues this unfathomable.
Try as she might, Jolie is miscast in the role and isn't able to pull it off, unlike Ashley Judd in "Kiss the Girls," who was the one saving grace.
Having previously helmed the successful suspense thriller, "Dead Calm"(as well as the Tom Clancy flicks "Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games"), Noyce obviously knows a thing or two about the genre and shouldn't have to resort to such cheap and amateurish tactics.
Director Noyce is an Australian who migrated to Hollywood after the success of his vicious thriller Dead Calm (1989).
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Ed O'Neill (TV's "Married...With Children"), Mike McGlone (1996's "She's All That"), and Leland Orser (1998's "Very Bad Things") all show up and make zero impression, while Michael Rooker, as shady Capt.