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"A 'Bone'
to Pick"
by Scott Mantz
"The Bone Collector"
Denzel Washington,
Angelina Jolie
Directed by Phillip Noyce
In 1991's "The
Silence of the Lambs", Jodie Foster played an inexperienced FBI
agent who taps the mind of an insane cannibalistic prisoner played
by Anthony Hopkins in order to track down a psychotic serial killer.
Not only did that film eat 'em up at the box office, it went on
to snag the Best Picture Oscar at that year's Academy Awards. Since
that formula worked so well, it was just a matter of time before
somebody in Hollywood got the bright idea to try it again. While
Angelina Jolie is no Jodie Foster, and Denzel Washington is no Anthony
Hopkins, "The Bone Collector" does have enough up its sleeve to
come off as an enjoyable suspense thriller.
While there
are major differences in the characters, the outline is basically
the same as "Lambs". NYPD forensics detective Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel
Washington) becomes paralyzed from the neck down after an accident.
After rookie beat cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) shows her
talent for evidence gathering in the first of many gruesome homicides,
he thinks he can use her special abilities to help track down a
cab-driving serial killer (what a shock) running amok in New York
City. She is reluctant at first, but she becomes his eyes and ears
at the scene of the crime while he talks her through from the confines
of his bed.
While Phillip
Noyce is a capable director, he seems to be lacking inspiration.
When he's not borrowing plot elements from "Lambs", he's trying
to set the foreboding mood of 'Seven". The film moves along at a
slow pace, and Noyce resorts to the sadistic methods of the killer
or scare tactics like kicking open doors to get a jump out of the
audience. It works, but it feels like a cheap shot.
As for the performances,
they're average at best. Even though Washington is confined to a
bed, he shows more life than anyone else in the film. He's given
up and spends his days playing chess with a computer and contemplating
suicide. When he notices Jolie's talent for evidence gathering,
he perks up and gets some life back into him. If Washington is the
teacher, then Jolie is the student. She overcomes her reluctance
to help by making a connection between her deceased father and her
new mentor. Unfortunately, while Jolie has turned in scene-stealing
performances in "Gia" and "Playing by Heart", she takes a sidestep
here woefully miscast as the rookie cop. However, considering the
success of Ashley Judd in "Double Jeopardy", audiences may still
connect with Jolie's strong, tough-as-nails approach.
Plotlines seem
to come out of nowhere or go unresolved. Washington and Jolie add
some flirtatious tension to their relationship, but it seems more
forced than genuine. In a city with 2000 cops, Jolie is chosen to
single-handedly descend into the bowls of New York's decaying, rat-infested
underground to handle the cases. I guess all the other cops were
too busy eating donuts. When the identity of the killer is finally
revealed, we're treated to a barrage of justification for his actions.
Where psycho-killers are concerned, sometimes we're better just
not knowing what their motivations are.
Noyce made his
breakthrough with the excellent 1989 Nicole Kidman psychological
thriller "Dead Clam". Since then, he's relied too heavily on the
marvels of technology than on character development to justify the
advancement of his stories. From the terrorist camp ambush in "Patriot
Games" to Billy Baldwin's voyeuristic toys in "Sliver" and now Washington's
encyclopedic knowledge with the help of his computer, you see the
point. As impressive as that may be, it doesn't make for an engaging
experience. Ultimately, it falls on characterization to get to our
bones and bring us in.
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