PRODUCED
BY KEVIN COSTNER,RAYNOLD GIDEON & JIM WILSON
DIRECTED
BY BRUCE A.EVANS
GENRE:THRILLER/CRIME
RATED:AUSTRALIA:MA/UK:18/USA:R
RUNNING
TIME:120 MIN
Kevin
Costner has long been one of cinema's pioneering on screen good guys.
His roles in The Untouchables, Field of Dreams
and JFK are few of many which showcase an actor who
is able to portray men of great conviction, unwavering morals and
always willing to fight the good fight. So it is a pleasant surprise
to find that Costner is just as convincing as he crosses over to the
dark side in the serial killer thriller Mr. Brooks.
Costner stars as Earl Brooks; highly successful business man, loving
husband to Emma (Marg Helgenberger) and adoring father of Jane (Danielle
Panabaker). He also happens to be one of the most notorious serial
killers in U.S. history who suffers from a multiple personality disorder.
Laying dormant from the killing field for two years, Brooks' alter
ego Marshall (Willaim Hurt) urges him to quench his thirst for blood
and kill again. Giving in to his "addiction" Brooks murders
an unsuspecting couple while they have sex, the return to his murderous
ways drawing the attention of dogged police Detective Tracy Atwood
(Demi Moore) and neighbouring peeping tom Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) who
proceeds to blackmail Brooks with photographic evidence of his recent
killing. In return he asks to be apart of Brooks' next kill.
A movie full of mixed performance and distracting sub-plots, Mr.
Brooks could have been one of the better serial killer movies
had it not been for the excessive multiple storylines which - although
would have looked good on paper - just does not translate on screen
as well as director Bruce A. Evans thought it would. Outside of Brooks
(one of my favourite incarnations of evil in some time) and his imaginary
partner in crime Marhshall (played wonderfully by William Hurt) none
of the other characters were remotely interesting nor drew any sympathy
from this reviewer. Especially Detective Atwood, a police officer
worth millions in inherited dollars who is going through a divorce
with a gold digging husband and on the tail end of threats from a
steroid junkie prison escapee she sent to jail. Moore plays the role
with the same testosterone driven clout such as Al Pacino's tenacious
cop in Heat
and Tommy Lee Jones' federal agent in The Fugitive,
yet she does not have the charisma nor the bad ass cred to pull of
such a performance. Her characters whole back story is the anchor
that pulls the movie down. But what does keep it afloat is Kevin Costner's
impressive performance, another in a fine late career re-emergence
along with his haunted cowboy in Open Range and stoner
ex-baseball player in The Upside of Anger. Stand up
comedian Dane Cook tries his best as the peeping tom with a taste
for murder and does not do half a bad job in the process and William
Hurt is deliciously sinister as the devil on Costner's shoulder.
Evans' direction is solid enough but at times is let down by an abundance
of style over substance and the chill out techno score by Ramin Djawadi
goes beyond irritating. If Mr. Brooks had focused more on the
title character and less on the cop sworn to bring him down than it
would have been a much better film. Anyone who is not a fan of the
genre or its main star should wait for the DVD release.
