The Bone Collector

Rating:
Summary: What a GREAT 'whodunnit' and performance by Denzel
Review: I can still remember my wife and I deciding on whether to see 'The Bone Collector' or 'Double Jeopardy'...we chose the latter and boy was THAT a BIG mistake!! 'Jeopardy' was a total waste of time, and to think we passed up Denzel, who as far as I am aware has NEVER been in a bad movie, for such drivel--well when I finally rented 'The Bone Collector' I felt even more stupid for passing it up originally.

Now that I have been able to get over my mistake (with a few months of therapy of course...) this is the movie that got me to read the books with Lincoln Rhyme written by Jeffery Deaver. I have been VERY glad I did, too. Now as good as this movie is, I would have to say that it paled when compared to the book (but which movie is EVER better than the book?). Without comparing it to the book, it was still a fun and exciting forensic-driven 'whodunnit'. The character of Lincoln Rhyme is easily one of my favorite in the last 10 years mostly because he is so 100% the opposite of what we have come to expect in this type of crime-fighter. He is bed-ridden due to an accident which left him paralyzed while on duty some years back. So where is the action you might ask? Well Denzel had to do pretty much all of his acting with his face, and that took a lot more talent than most people realize--and YES, in fact there is a LOT of action in this intense thriller. If you are interested in the forensic side of crime you simply CANNOT pass up this movie. How exactly can you find a murderer based upon such little evidence, all of which was purposely LEFT behind BY the killer? Finding out is definitely the biggest portion of why this is such a great movie.

I URGE you strongly, IF you enjoyed this movie, pick up a copy of the book, and then move on the the even better, 'The Coffin Dancer' also featuring Lincoln Rhyme. If you are looking for a surprise ending, 'The Coffin Dancer' had a DOOSEY! When all is said and done, if you see Denzel in the movie, go and see it, you are assured of a great time--and 'The Bone Collector' is NO exception.

Rating:
Summary: Decent, but could of been improved.
Review: Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) has been paralyzed after he had a huge accident in a tunnell. Rhyme was previously a brilliant and highly praised detective, and when he is told that a murderer is on the loose who happens to be killing people in strange yet clever ways, he demands that cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) become his eyes and ears to solve the mysterious clues.

Angelina Jolie is extremely watchable as Donaghy, she gets her teeth into the role and she seems to be enjoying herself at the same time as pulling off an excellent performance that is full of effort. Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah are also quite impressive. Although The Bone Collector is sometimes a deeply flawed film, it is still very decent entertainment that even the most stingy critics will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED
Review: This movie was not what we expected. It had great actors, and an okay story line, but not scary at all, which was oh-so-disappionting to me and my husband. We were hoping it was as good as the previews.

Rating:
Summary: CHEAP THRILLER
Review: The mediocrity of this production is so great that I almost couldn't believe it when I first saw it, taken by the presence of Washington in it. I must say: even him didn't save this failure. A shame. The end seems like a comedy, so absurd it is.

Rating:
Summary: Adequate and competent thriller with some good performances.
Review: The performances of Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie are the best things about this thriller, which otherwise is a bit too straightforward, and lacks punch.

The story is of a series of grisley murders, each with their own carefully set up clues. One by one, various people are captured, have horrible things done to them, leaving a crime scene which has clues to the next crime. Luckily for us, Angelina Jolie finds one of the crime scenes, and her eagle eyes and careful technique means that a pettern starts to emerge. The cops go to Washington, a severely crippled forensics man who was top of his field, showing him both the evidence and Jolie! He nurtures her forensics abilities, and they close in on the killer..... And so it goes, until the end, when, in the usual mix of drama, sudden realisation, desperate last minute chases, etc. etc., the killer is revealed to be....someone I didn't expect.

The film is fairly straight forward, the important facts are right there for you to see, easy to follow. Character development is poor - you learn some stuff about Jolie, but, for the life of me, I couldn't see what it added to her character (maybe I'm just thick). Not enough detail goes into the criminal, you learn very little about him/her until right at the end, and even then you're only given an outline of what drives the killer. Some of the plot development is a bit silly - for example, when Washington is brought into the case, against the wishes of a senior cop, it seems as if the whole of the forensics department, eqiopment, people, everything, moves into his apartment, and plugs into his computers, databases, etc. which all happen to be conveniently there!

Anyway, nitpicking aside, this is a fairly good film, perfect for a night in if thrillers are what you like. The acting is good, the sets are good, there's plenty of suspense as each crime gets underway. OK, so its not perfect, but they can't all be Silence of the Lambs, can they?

Rating:
Summary: Semi Entertaining...
Review: This movie had it's moments and I believe that's what the producers relied on, those MOMENTS that were far a few between. If Denzel had not been confined to the bed, I believe he would have taken a more active role in possibly salvaging this movie from the poor ratings. Sometimes it does pay to adapt the book version, in this case they didn't and they should have.

Rating:
Summary: just bad, really bad
Review: this movie looked really good from the previews, but after finally seeing it i was very disappointed. there was no suspense. i hated angelina jolie in this film. the ending was weak and the conclusion(how they uncover the plot was just beyond horrible and phony). very bad movie, no good murders and i even thought the scenery was bad. i dont recommend this movie to anyone. the one star is for the title(The Bone Collector)which was the only cool thing about this film.

Rating:
Summary: Who needs originality?
Review: In watching "The Bone Collector," I wasn't looking for anything original or genuine. Anyone who has seen enough thrillers about serial killers knows that all the aspects of the genre have pretty much been played down to the bare bones, and even those are being made into movies as well. What makes "The Bone Collector" interesting is its intensity and its characters, as well as the acting effort put forth in making the movie come alive. So what if it's not all that original? It's still a shockingl intense piece of filmmaking, and that alone makes it worthwhile.

The plot is pretty routine: a killer begins taking lives and leaving clues behind for the police to find, weaving an intricate puzzle of mystery and chills. The police detective in charge of the case is Lincoln Rhyme, a top homicide investigator and author of crime books who became a quadriplegic through an accident on the job. The movie chooses to take this character and build on him immensely (you'd think there'd be no where to go with the material with his one position being in his sick bed, but you'll be surprised). He has a lot to build on with his knowledge of crime and how killers work, so his intelligence and education guide the movie along its routine plot in a new and exciting fashion.

While he must remain on the inside, he chooses a beat cop by the name of Amelia Donaghy to take the assignment of assessing the indivisual crime scenes and relaying the look and feel of the place back to him, all the while taking on the duties of gathering evidence and clues and bringing them to his attention. From the beginning of their acquaintance, it's clear that this is going to be a rocky road. Donaghy feels she is not adequate for the job, or the stomach, while Rhyme knows she has the potential to carry on with the task. Their collaboration and onscreen time together are the most enjoyable parts of the film.

Through the clues the killer keeps leaving at each crime scene, they discover the location and nature of the next crime, arriving too little too late to save the victims from death. Their penetrations into the remaining evidence leads them to the realization that the killer is following the murders in a book titled "The Bone Collector," and their finding of this book is what sparks the final climax that comes as a bit of a shock, and does have its surprises.

The movie is not the most original piece ever to be filmed, and this must be realized in order to enjoy the movie. It has the regular features of a movie of this sort: the intelligent detective and the cop under his wing (one original twist here is that the cop ends up doing all the work, and the detective doesn't try to take all the credit), the bungling cops who don't believe for a minute the findings of the cop/detective team, a killer who leaves hints and clues only to kill more people without mercy. The story pattern here is pretty routine, I will admit that, but if you can set aside your need for a fresh new story and just enjoy this movie for its thrills and intensity, then you won't be disappointed.

Thrills and intensity are all but absent here, keeping the movie moving at a nice steady pace the quickens when the plot requires it to. These two elements, plot and suspense, work extremely well together, and have a certain lingo to which they stick. In moments of intense action, the suspense is fast and incredible, while scenes that move slower have a gradual build of suspense that provides a healthy balance for its audience. For the amount of unoriginal material in this story, the movie does quite well for itself in making is watchable and suspenseful.

Of course, the big mystery of this film is finding out who the killer is, and what his motives are for lashing out in such a gruesome way. This is the best aspect of the story, because the killer ends up being the last person in the world you would think to guess at. Also comes the fact that the killer may or may not be involved in Rhyme's life, which is another suspense builder which keeps you guessing until the brutal climax. Even the ending itself is a bit routine, but hey, with all that's happened in this film, is seems to work with the material, and that's more than enough to recommend it.

Our key characters here are played by superb actors who each have unique qualities and attributes to offer to their roles. Denzel Washington, perhaps one of the most accomplished actors ever, plays Lincoln Rhyme, and he makes the role much more involved and important than any other actor would just lying in a bed spouting out gibberish. He makes us believe in Rhyme's struggle to keep himself alive by keeping up with his work. Angelina Jolie is stunning as Amelia Donaghy, bringing strength and emotion to her role. She portrays her character as strong yet weak, a woman whose need to get the job done does not provide for much of an emotional outlet. Queen Latifah makes an appearance as Rhyme's nurse, and although she doesn't have much to do here, she does offer what she can in advancing the script comically and sometimes intelligently.

"The Bone Collector" is unoriginal, uninspired, and routine, but it takes the same old material and gives it a nice treatment, certainly worth more than my fellow critics would have you think. It is able to keep a high momentum throughout its discourse, allowing for some very high tension and suspense, all anchored together by the powerful performances of Washington and Jolie, who have a unique chemistry onscreen. If you can set aside your need for something new, this movie does work on more than one level, and proves itself worthy of recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Deceivingly unsatisfying...
Review: As unfortunate as it is that this movie was bad, it's not unlike the current crop of fright flicks, quality wise. Sporting a cast with considerable potential, it did little to satiate the desire for horror any common movie-viewer may have expected. However well this film may have fared as a book, the translation to film was undoubtebly of lesser quality. The character diversity was present, with all its earmarked stereotypes, the bed ridden quadrapalegic forensic genius(Denzel Washington), paternal suicide trauma stricken attractive good-cop(Angelina Jolie), always interfering doubt-stricken bad-cop(Michael Rooker), barely seen cop of few words(Ed O`Neill), obnoxiously humble bedside nurse(Queen Latifah), and finally Eddie, the crazy associate artifacts analyst with silly accent and much-needed comic relief(Luis Guzman). Philip Noyce(director) and Martin Bergman(producer) may have had too much confidence in this film, as evidenced in the included extra behind the scenes footage which did little to convey any shadow of interest. All it basically succeeded at doing, being placed at the end of the movie, was giving insight to the forces of madness which allowed this film to see the bigscreen. After the beginning portion of sub par scenery, the movie tailspinned into a predictable series of semi-alarming shock shots. Angelina Jolie and Denzel fans look elsewhere, sadly the acting suffers a dissuading mediocrity, leaving much to be desired.

Rating:
Summary: If you are a Denzel fan this is a must see
Review: This is a must see movie. If you love suspense this is the movie for you. With the oscar award winning actor you can't go wrong. I purchase this dvd my collection. You go Denzel. Hooray Hooray!