Suspect Zero spends more time bashing its setting than developing a story. It's set in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the fact that I live there might have some effect on my bias. However, it is hard for me to say that I liked the story and thought the acting was good when there is no story and no talent displayed here. What I will give the film props for is mood. Still, I think it should have been made clear in the early stages of production that a thriller is not sold on camera angles.
Ben Kingsly is an unpredictable actor. One day he's sitting in Hollywood being honored with an Academy Award nomination for his excellent work in House of Sand and Fog and the next he is off filming the dud Thunderbirds. Sure, Ben, it's nice to do something for the kids but that's where the glory of animation comes. It was probably while on the set of Thunderbirds that he read the script for Suspect Zero. There really is no other way to explain how this actor who played Gandhi chose this strange serial killer film.
The script is the work of Billy Ray who's coming off the critical success of Shattered Glass. His follow up is an embarrassment. How could a man that made journalism suspenseful make a serial killer boring? Well, Zac Penn, the co-writer, stumbles upon a good idea called remote viewing, which is used by the CIA to located people. He and Ray do get the psychology down too. Someone one who can see a serial killer in his mind all the time is going to be plagued with problems. Still, with all this potential, they create a script that has no shinning moments just a bunch of lines about how Albuquerque is so lame because a Starbucks isn't within 100 meters at all times (but we're getting there, rest assurd).
Shot with elegance, the horror in the film is small. There is little that makes you jump from your seat in fear and it drags on for too long. Perhaps I was just bored but the entirety of the film feels like a waste. E. Elias Merhige directs this slow, undeveloped misuse of the southwestern desert.
**/*****
Ben Kingsly is an unpredictable actor. One day he's sitting in Hollywood being honored with an Academy Award nomination for his excellent work in House of Sand and Fog and the next he is off filming the dud Thunderbirds. Sure, Ben, it's nice to do something for the kids but that's where the glory of animation comes. It was probably while on the set of Thunderbirds that he read the script for Suspect Zero. There really is no other way to explain how this actor who played Gandhi chose this strange serial killer film.
The script is the work of Billy Ray who's coming off the critical success of Shattered Glass. His follow up is an embarrassment. How could a man that made journalism suspenseful make a serial killer boring? Well, Zac Penn, the co-writer, stumbles upon a good idea called remote viewing, which is used by the CIA to located people. He and Ray do get the psychology down too. Someone one who can see a serial killer in his mind all the time is going to be plagued with problems. Still, with all this potential, they create a script that has no shinning moments just a bunch of lines about how Albuquerque is so lame because a Starbucks isn't within 100 meters at all times (but we're getting there, rest assurd).
Shot with elegance, the horror in the film is small. There is little that makes you jump from your seat in fear and it drags on for too long. Perhaps I was just bored but the entirety of the film feels like a waste. E. Elias Merhige directs this slow, undeveloped misuse of the southwestern desert.
**/*****