Volume 5
Issue # 7

March 23, 2004

"Rotting corpses and Angelina Jolie"

A troubled youth, never happy with who he is. Having difficulty in understanding and creating an identity of his own, he begins to envy the identity of others, wishing, at least for a moment that he can be one of them. Or that one specifically. He targets loners, drifters, marginalized individuals with few to no links to a social network. He isolates road warriors, people with no family, no friends. He endeavours to be them. He strives to take the life of his target, not only killing the victim, but taking on his life in its entirety, from mannerisms to dress to career.

Just as you don’t enter a Mike Myers or Jack Black film expecting a thought-provoking storyline and brilliant insightful dialogue, and just as you don’t watch Freddy or Jason or Chucky for its character development, you shouldn’t expect any of the above from this film. What you can expect is a few chills and thrills, a number of gruesomely detailed cadavers, and the obligatory car chase.

When I first saw the teaser trailers for this film, I was expecting more of a horror sci-fi type of film wherein some supernatural being (a monster, demon, something of that ilk) literally enters the body of his victims to overtake their being. I imagined a viewless spirit lurking in the shadows, stalking his newest prey. He would gut it out and assume that person’s identity, and we’d have the cliché shot where the camera would zoom in on his eyes to reveal the fire and fury within. The camera would zoom back out to show the body as a whole, and we’d see your Joe Average, a mild-mannered run-of-he-mill guy working at your local Starbucks….kind of like Sean Penn in “I Am Sam.”

But I, of course, was wrong. This movie “borrows” little from the traditions of “Friday the 13th” and “Hallowe’en,” and rather follows more of the mold that we found in “Silence of the Lambs,” “Seven,” and other movies where your expert FBI (or CIA or LAPD or whatever) agent traces the path of the newest serial killer. Angelina Jolie is the agent – departing from the tradition of the middle-aged well-experience cop in most other films (in this category we’d find people like Al Pacino, for example) – to give us a little hotness, which is sure to help bring in some of the teenage boys with raging hormones and disposible income.

Before you ask, yes, Angelina does get (near) naked in this movie for one brief scene. There’s even a brief boob shot for those of you interested in that kind of thing. Myself, I don’t find her particularly attractive – almost man-like – but what do I know. But I digress. This film certainly has its entertainment value, but don’t expect anything particularly original in the nearly two hours you’d spend in a movie theatre. It directly borrows from movies like “Seven,” starring Brad Pitt, but that’s okay.

If you like blood, guts, gore and rotting corpses, this is a movie for you. If you like plot twists, this movie is for you. If you like deep characters with an emphasis on character development and outstanding dialogue, this is not the movie for you. Other than the Ethan Hawke character, the majority of the cast could have been replaced with cardboard cut-outs and voiceovers and you wouldn’t notice the difference. That being said, the marginalized teenagers presented in the opening vignette are witty and interesting – until one of them dies and we are treated to about 8 minutes of pre-movie credits (don’t you hate those?!).

I got my money’s worth (free tickets courtesy of ‘The Ubyssey’ are always welcome). This is a movie better watched in the dark confines of a theatre, where the shock factor is bigger (Big Sound, Big Screen….actually quite a big deal), but not exactly worth the nearly $15 that your local multiplex will charge you. Watch it on a Tuesday if you’re in the mood for a little spook, a little thrill, and just a dash of thought. “Why did he do that?” “What’s his next move?” “How is that possible?” This movie is not a no-brainer, though not by much, but I’d still recommend it.

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Taking Lives is rated 14A (BC) for violence, language and brief sexuality. It is 102 minutes, stars Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland, and is directed by D.J. Caruso.