The Bone Collector (1999)

A quadriplegic ex-homicide detective and his partner try to track down a serial killer who is terrorizing New York City.

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers:

Jeffery Deaver (book), Jeremy Iacone (screenplay)

Stars:

Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Lincoln Rhyme
Angelina Jolie	...	Amelia Donaghy
Queen Latifah	...	Thelma
Michael Rooker	...	Captain Howard Cheney
Michael McGlone	...	Detective Kenny Solomon (as Mike McGlone)
Luis Guzmán	...	Eddie Ortiz (as Luis Guzman)
Leland Orser	...	Richard Thompson
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Dr. Barry Lehman
Bobby Cannavale	...	Amelia's Boyfriend
Ed O'Neill	...	Detective Paulie Sellitto
Richard Zeman	...	Lt. Carl Hanson
Olivia Birkelund	...	Lindsay Rubin
Gary Swanson	...	Alan Rubin
James Bulleit	...	Train Engineer (as Jim Bulleit)
Frank Fontaine	...	Grandfather

Storyline

Quadripeligic ex-cop Lincoln Rhyme was looking forward to his assisted suicide when he got the news: some sicko was abducting people in a taxi and leaving them to die in particularly sadistic ways. With time counting down between each abduction and possible death, Rhyme recruits rather-unwilling Amelia Donaghy, haunted by her cop father's suicide and thinking she's next, into working the crime scenes to track down the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

criminal investigation | usa | united states | quadriplegic | new york city | 

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Taglines:

Serial killer vs. forensic genius

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violent content including grisly images, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Queen Latifah who plays a nurse in this film, was considered for the role of Sharona (also a nurse) on Monk (2002).

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Goofs

(at around 36 mins) When Rhyme has had everyone set up in his home and they are working on finding the wife, every scene in his apartment shows it to be storming quite heavily outside but when Amelia and the other detectives step outside it is a bright sunny day.

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Quotes

Amelia: Excuse me, but the victim was already dead when we arrived.
Captain Howard Cheney: And you, half-assed patrolman working a crime scene... those days are over. I'll take that evidence bag now, thank you.
Amelia: You can take it with a chain of custody voucher, sir.
Captain Howard Cheney: Are you out of your mind? Hmmm? Let's go. You're coming with us.
Amelia: What? Are you arresting me?
Captain Howard Cheney: You just get in the car, and keep your mouth shut to the press.

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Crazy Credits

Despite of being a co-production between Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, either one of the logos at the beginning: Universal in the US version, and Columbia in the international version. So, they mentioned Universal last in the international credits and first in the US credits, while Columbia is mentioned also first in the international credits and last in the US credits.

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Alternate Versions

An alternative ending was shot where Thelma survives and can be seen at the Christmas party. This was not used because it was deemed too unbelievable.

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Connections

References The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

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Soundtracks

The Touch (Le Toucher)
Written by George Acogny, Mitsou, Kamil Rustam
Performed by Mitsou
Mitsou appears courtesy of Generation Records

User Reviews

Dark and tense, but ultimately lazy story telling

When NYPD cop Amelia Donaghy uncovers a mutilated corpse she shows a natural eye for detail and preserving crime scenes. When the killer turns out to be a serial killer leaving clues to his next crime, NYPD turn to the paralysed ex-forensics cop, Rhyme to help them piece together the clues. With Rhymes bedridden, Donaghy becomes his eyes, ears and legs as she walks the scenes under his guidance to uncover the trail.

This is a star vehicle - two Oscar winners and some good supporting actors (Luis Guzman, Michael Rooker to name two). However the plot is below the Washington and Jolie. It is the old "killer taunting cops to catch him" chestnut. It is slightly spiced up by the use of forensics etc and watching Washington putting together the logical clues is quite fun - mainly because you get the feeling that you're right there with him and that it all makes sense. However most of it doesn't makes sense, a lot of the forensics is bull and relies of coincidence or Washington dragging facts from the back of his head. This is a shame because it feels like the film is just being lazy at times and is cheating us out of logic. This laziness feeds right through to the ending - if you thought that the Scream films were lazy and stupid wait till you see the stupid ending to this! Up till this the film does have plenty of horrible scenes and lots of tense bits with Jolie walking round in the dark with the killer potentially just round the corner.

Jolie is good and deals with her character well - despite the fact that a beat cop would never just be able to become a crime scene officer on the whim of an ex-cop. Washington deals well with his character being paralysed for the whole film but does get a bit silly at the end where he fights the killer with just his head! Support is fine - but Guzman is not as good as he usually is.

Overall this is a B movie that got an A movie budget. The film is dark and tense but ultimately a bit lazy and blows it totally with a stupid lazy conclusion.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Bone Collector

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$73,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,712,020, 7 November 1999

Gross USA:

$66,518,655

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$151,493,655

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1