Plot: What’s it about?
One can’t help but be reminded of previous psychological thrillers when viewing “Taking Lives”. It’s easy for a movie like this to be placed in the “seen it, done it” category, yet even though predictable at times, I found it very entertaining. D.J. Caruso, who is best-known for his work in “The Salton Sea” a few years back. Caruso obviously has a very visual eye and uses it to heighten the experience while watching his movies. This isn’t to say that he’s the next Hitchcock, but he seems better than the run of the mill director, to be sure. The conclusions are inevitable that this borrows heavily from past (and arguably) more successful thrillers like “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Se7en”. While those two are hard to top, “Taking Lives” does manage to put a new twist on what could be considered to be an overused genre.
Angelina Jolie plays Illeana, a character reminiscent of the one she played in 2000’s “The Bone Collector”. She works for the FBI and has been called up on special assignment in Montreal to investigate a murder. We meet Illenana as she is lying in an open grave, to get the feel for the case. Two detectives, one resentful (Oliver Martinez) and one amiable (Tchéky Karyo) assist her with the case. We then meet Costa (Ethan Hawke), a local art dealer who stumbled upon a man being murdered, tried to save him and wasn’t able to. He’s able to provide the police with a sketch of the man, which helps the investigation. The twist comes when it’s learned that this killer has been taking lives, which is to say that he kills people close to his age and looks, and literally takes their identity. He uses their credit cards, pays their bills. They all have one thing in common, which is they’re not him. Kiefer Sutherland plays his usual eerie self who may or may not be the one everyone is looking for.
While no new ground was broken here, there were a few times when I was genuinely surprised. You prepare yourself for things to happen, things to fall or be startled and as Spielberg says “…you can fool the audience – once”. Well, they do and I think my heart skipped a beat. This certainly won’t go down as one of the better thrillers made, but it is acted well and contains a very good premise. Ethan Hawke, one of my favorite actors, delivers a solid performance and the always reliable/beautiful Angelina Jolie does more than her fair share here, too. Much like last year’s “Murder by Numbers”, this is a well thought-out premise (though in the “odd” department, Jolie’s character wasn’t even in the book) and a movie that entertained whereas it could have easily failed in other hands. Warner has issued this with some additional footage (widescreen version only), so if you saw it in the theater, prepare for just a bit more. Recommended for a rental and serious fans of the movie will want to pick the disc up.
Video: How does it look?
“Taking Lives” looks positively exquisite in a very nicely-framed 2.40:1 anamorphic image. I found really nothing wrong with this transfer. The colors are bright when they need to be and solid throughout. The nighttime scenes have just a hint of artifacting and black levels are right on target. Flesh tones are accurately depicted as well. Director D.J. Caruso has placed a lot of stylized scenes and some extreme close ups of Angelina Jolie’s beautiful green eyes. Everything about this transfer amazed me and it enhances the viewing experience so much more. Nice job Warner!
Audio: How does it sound?
A nice Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is included and it more than serves its purpose here. Surround effects enhance the ambiance of many scenes and the front stage handles the brunt of the soundtrack effectively. While this isn’t as impressive as some tracks, it’s a nice mix that’s robust enough for the movie genre. Certain key sequences require that kind of “Psycho” effect to enhance them and though this is not “Psycho”, I jumped a few times! Dialogue is fresh and natural-sounding as well. Needless to say, Phillip Glass’ score does everything to enhance the mood and it pays off here.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The extras are fairly sparse as we only get a theatrical trailer presented in anamorphic widescreen and a documentary (which is actually a compilation of featurettes). The featurettes, while interesting, fall into the same trap that most are in that they’re redundant and don’t add a lot of value to the disc. For the record, they’re entitled: “The Art of Collaboration”, “Profiling a Director”, “Bodies of Evidence”, and “Puzzle Within The Puzzle”. Additionally, this is the “Unrated” version but again, the problem with that is that we don’t know which scenes have been added into the movie if we haven’t seen it before. While it’s nice to have the “Director’s Cut”, it does no good if we don’t really know what had been cut out. I can guess, but I’d most likely be wrong. In a strange move, the widescreen version is the only version that has the extra footage, so those who buy the full-frame version will get the theatrical cut (and as a metaphor would indicate, you’ll not only be missing out on the added scenes, but you’ll be missing half the picture as well)! A gag reel is included as well, though it seems a bit out of place for a taut psychological thriller like this…
