D.J. Caruso knows how to craft a good film. His debut feature, The Salton Sea, was a sordid but gritty look into the drug underworld. For at least the first half of Taking Lives, he does a great job too, setting us up with tightly paced serial killer thriller with a haunting scope. Angelina Jolie does a reasonable job in the lead and more importantly is nice eye candy. Sadly, it doesn't take long for the film to fall apart after a promising opening.
I don't feel the need to get into the plot, that's there in the IMDb summary. So basically without revealing any actual plot twists there are two main problems with this film. The first is that it's VERY predictable, even if you don't get the twist straight away, there comes a point in the film where there is no choice for the viewer to see the inevitable twist before it actually comes. And once that point comes along it's a downhill slope for the remainder of the film.
The second problem is, even if the twist is obvious, that is no excuse for failing to tie up loose ends and fill up plot holes. In this film there's too many unanswered questions that the film-makers don't even attempt to address. It's an insult to the audience to simply expect them to forget about certain facts introduced to the story early on in the piece and the film cheats so often too, only showing what they want you to show, because the that's the only way the story can hold up.
Overall a film that starts off so well, but ultimately disappoints and assumes it's audience has an I.Q. of less than 65.
I don't feel the need to get into the plot, that's there in the IMDb summary. So basically without revealing any actual plot twists there are two main problems with this film. The first is that it's VERY predictable, even if you don't get the twist straight away, there comes a point in the film where there is no choice for the viewer to see the inevitable twist before it actually comes. And once that point comes along it's a downhill slope for the remainder of the film.
The second problem is, even if the twist is obvious, that is no excuse for failing to tie up loose ends and fill up plot holes. In this film there's too many unanswered questions that the film-makers don't even attempt to address. It's an insult to the audience to simply expect them to forget about certain facts introduced to the story early on in the piece and the film cheats so often too, only showing what they want you to show, because the that's the only way the story can hold up.
Overall a film that starts off so well, but ultimately disappoints and assumes it's audience has an I.Q. of less than 65.