(Well, I guess that's one way to keep from being bored with your life: change it every few years. Shame about the person you have to kill.)
CAST: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Olivier Martinez, Jean-Paul Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, Gena Rowlands.
DIRECTOR: D.J. Caruso
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and rather extreme identity theft straight ahead...
As I mentioned in earlier reviews, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS established the Serial Killer genre. But it was SEVEN that redefined it for generations to come, for better or worse. SEVEN's dark atmosphere and gloomy ambience seems to have been also influenced by JENNIFER EIGHT (1992). But while JENNIFER EIGHT's darkness was leavened by the romance at its core, SEVEN has no such buffer. And let's face it: SEVEN was a far darker and brutal film.
SEVEN made such an impact that it suddenly became the template for future Serial Killer films to live by, marked by such characteristics as: (1) striking and surreal opening credits involving discordant images and sounds; (2) dark and ominous cinematography; (3) uniquely gruesome murders; and (4) a singularly vicious and sadistic killer who challenges the authorities in a game of wiles that usually ends badly for everyone concerned.
Some films that have been blatantly influenced by SEVEN are the SAW series; the HOSTEL films; and the horrific French films INSIDE, FRONTIERS, and MARTYRS. Basically, SEVEN threw down a gauntlet that unfortunately many an aspiring horror filmmaker has taken upon themselves: see who can topple it for sheer darkness and foreboding. However, because these upstarts all lack SEVEN's strong moral center - how we have all become numbed and inured to sin and ugliness - they end up being nothing more than often pretentious and highly unpleasant exercises in nihilism and sensationalism.
TAKING LIVES fits all the criteria of a SEVEN-knockoff: (1) striking and surreal opening credits involving discordant and disturbing images and sounds; (2) dark and ominous cinematography; (3) uniquely gruesome murders; and (4) and a singularly vicious and sadistic killer. Fortunately, it doesn't make the mistake of trying to out-do SEVEN. Rather, it goes its own way and weaves an almost surreal and European atmosphere that it can almost call its own.
Our heroine is FBI Special Agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie). Evidently, Illeana is basically the Meryl Streep of profilers. That is, she's fucking brilliant at it. The latest murder that Illeana's services are requested for involves a body found at a construction site in Quebec. It appears that the killer smashed the victim's face in and cut off his hands - obviously to prevent the cops from identifying him. Why?
Illeana is requested by the Quebec Police Commissioner LeClaire (Tcheky Karyo) to find the answers to this question and others. She and the Commish are old acquaintances from when he attended special training at the Academy. Unfortunately, she has to contend with resistance from Inspector Pacquette (Oliveir Martinez), who is you basic macho chauvinist asshole, and is pissed off that LeClaire didn't give him and his colleagues the chance to figure out the mystery themselves before soliciting the help of a certain big-lipped FBI agent. Fortunately, Pacquette's partner Duval (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is a more reasonable human being and extends a warm welcome to Illeana.
Illeana doesn't have time to ponder why Pacquette is such a cretin because soon another murder occurs. This time, however, there is a witness: an art dealer named James Costa (Ethan Hawke) sees the killer bludgeoning another man. James manages to scare off the killer and tries to help the victim - but it's too late. Half the dude's face is gone.
Another breakthrough in the case is when Illeana questions local old bat Mrs. Asher (Gena Rowlands), a woman who claims to have seen her son Martin on a ferry. What's so scary about that? Well, seems Martin was supposed to have been killed in a car accident 19 years ago. So, what was he doing on the ferry, then? Add to this Mrs. Asher's assertion that Martin is very dangerous, and it doesn't come as a surprise that Illeana is soon running around with a court order to exhume the body in Martin's grave.
Well, anyone surprised by the revelation that the body turns out to be someone other than Martin Asher needs to watch more thrillers. From there, it's a short leap for a gifted eideteker like Illeana to figure out that Martin Asher has been "taking lives" for nearly 20 years. Basically, Marty has been: (1) stalking men of his current (or then-current) age; (2) studying their habits; (3) murdering them by smashing their faces in and cutting off their hands to prevent identification; then (4) assuming their identity for a few years, before (5) deciding he needs a new "life" and identity - then starting the whole process again.
Will Illeana catch up to Martin Asher? Will she figure out who his next target will be? Is it James Costa? Or will Martin target him just because he's a witness? And what happens when Illeana finds herself falling for James's kindness and sweet nature? Will she remove herself from the case? Or will she hide her feelings in order to get the job done and catch the bad guy? Why is Pacquette being such a prick to Illeana? Is he really Martin Asher? Or is it Duval? Or LeClair? Or is he really.... Zac Efron?
I knew Zac had a dark side.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Wisely trying not to topple SEVEN from its lofty perch, TAKING LIVES manages to compel by creating a more dream-like atmosphere - instead of a relentlessly bleak one. From its opening scene of Mrs. Asher rushing off a ferry to report her unseen sighting of Martin, to our first glimpse of Illeana lying in a murder victim's grave, to the revelation of who Martin Asher really is, and finally to the gripping climax set in Illeana's run-down family estate in Pennyslvania, this film weaves an offbeat and unpredictable path that feels very European. I suppose it helps that it's set in Quebec, and half the cast are non-Americans.
The concept of a "life-jacker" is a fresh one, and was recently recycled in A PERFECT GETAWAY. Make no mistake, though: TAKING LIVES did it first. It's also refreshing to see a film in which the victims are not all women. Instead, the men are the ones who have the targets around their necks.
Angelina Jolie leads the cast with assurance. Her portrayal of Illeana Scott as an assured, gifted, but also human FBI agent is the main reason that TAKING LIVES works as well as it does. We have to believe one hundred percent that this woman can take one look at a room or a grave - and deduce just what happened. We then have to buy that a woman this intelligent would also inadvertently let her guard down and allow herself to care about a man who is a key eyewitness in her case. Jolie succeeds at both counts, and shapes Illeana into a very gifted woman who has seen a lot of darkness - but still has the capacity to be touched by kindness and decency such as that exhibited by James Costa. In this regard, TAKING LIVES echoes the central relationship in JENNIFER EIGHT between John Berlin (Andy Garcia) and Helena Robertson (Uma Thurman) - but with the genders interestingly reversed.
Speaking of James Costa, Ethan Hawke brings a quirky and appealingly offbeat quality to the character. During Illeana's initial questioning of him, it's clear there is a strong attraction between them. Watching Illeana respond to his gallantry and boyish earnestness more and more as the film goes on is great to watch. This all culminates in a very steamy love scene between them in the third act - made strong by the palpable chemisty between Jolie and Hawke.
The rest of the mostly-male cast is good. Tchecky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, and Olivier Martinez are all vivid in their various roles - with Martinez the standout as the piggish Pacquette. In the only other major female role (the Medical Examiner is memorable, but she's only in two scenes) of Mrs. Asher, Gena Rowlands is an effective mix of haughty and terrified. It's not clear why Martin turned out to want any life other than his own, but Rowland's intimidating performance provides some clues.
In the end, TAKING LIVES is a good effort at tweaking and combining the formulas for SEVEN and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It brings a look and feel of its own to the Serial Killer genre - and that pays off very well.
