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Title: Taking Lives (2004)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Angelina Jolie | ... | Illeana | |
| Ethan Hawke | ... | Costa | |
| Kiefer Sutherland | ... | Hart | |
| Gena Rowlands | ... | Mrs. Asher | |
| Olivier Martinez | ... | Paquette | |
| Tchéky Karyo | ... | Leclair | |
| Jean-Hugues Anglade | ... | Duval | |
| Paul Dano | ... | Young Asher | |
| Justin Chatwin | ... | Matt Soulsby | |
| André Lacoste | ... | Cashier | |
 |
Billy Two Rivers | ... | Car Salesman |
|
|
Richard Lemire | ... | Québec City Cop |
| Julien Poulin | ... | Québec City Inspector | |
| Marie-Josée Croze | ... | Medical Examiner | |
|
|
Christian Tessier | ... | Interrogation Officer |
The film starts in the early 1980s. Young Martin Asher took a bus for Canada. He meets another teen on the bus, Matt Soulsby. When the bus broke down they decided to rent a car and drive to Seattle. On the road the car gets a flat tire, and Matt starts changing the tire. Martin comments on how he and Matt are about the same height, and in that moment he quickly pushes Matt in the way of an oncoming truck causing a huge accident where Matt and the driver both die. He took Matt's guitar and left singing like Matt did. Twenty years later, an FBI profiler, Illeana Scott comes to Canada to help hunt down the now serial killer Martin Asher who killed multiple men and lived by their identities. Martin's mother claims that she saw Martin in Quebec city and she tells the police that Martin is evil. The police also has an eyewitness James Costa who saw Asher kill his last victim... Written by victoria
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If I had to write a one sentence review for Taking Lives, it would be, "If you have seen a ridiculous amount of thriller movies and have seen all the twists and turns before, then this movie is very predictable, if you haven't, it is worth a look and you may even be surprised." For those that want more, please read on.
I believe the casting for this movie was as close to perfect as they were going to get. Angelina Jolie stars as FBI Agent Illeana Scott. Illeana has both strengths and weaknesses,which are both done in the right way. She is a very smart detective and can pick up clues that many could not and leads the way to many places that the other detectives would never have found. She does not come off as the hardened, tough cop that would have made this movie much worse. Instead, she usually gets the short end of the stick when forced to do physical battle with lowlifes and even other cops. She is flawed and vulnerable but can put up a hell of a fight when needed but relies on her brain to beat a larger and stronger foe. For an example of how to do this the wrong way, see Ashley Judd (of whom I'm also a fan of) in Twisted.
Olivier Martinez plays a character I find hard to like at any part of the film named Paquette. Paquette is a Canadian cop who has issues with bringing the FBI in (I'm not sure if the FBI actually assists in Canadian affairs, but this is just a movie). Olivier seems likable as a person and I'm not familiar with his work, as I'm sure it is mostly French. I'll chalk it up to good acting.
Keifer Sutherland had only what seemed to be a bit part here and could have been used a bit more. He was probably in and out in 2 days of filming.
And finally, Ethan Hawke did a fine job for his role, but I think they could have made a better choice for this character.
As I said earlier, those of us who see many of these types of movies will probably see most of the twists before they happen. Many of them well before they happen. Some of you will know everything that's going to happen before it happens, such as I did, but I still think it was a good story and was entertained. I can honestly recommend this one for at least a rental.