Two cops on the trail of a serial killer.
They must see as one...
They must act as one...
They must think as one...
Before another victim falls.
Distributed by
Columbia TriStar
Cert:
Cat.no: CDR 30597
Running time: 113 minutes
Year: 1999
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 20 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, German
Subtitles: 17 languages available
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Trailers (Bone Collector and Devil In A Blue Dress),
Featurette, Filmographies, Isolated Music Score, Director's Commentary
Director:
Philip Noyce
(Blind Fury, The Bone Collector, Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm, Patriot Games, The Saint, Sliver)
Producers:
Martin Bregman, Louis A. Stroller and Michael Bregman
Screenplay:
Jeremy Iacone
Music:
Craig Armstrong
Cast:
Lincoln Rhyme: Denzel Washington
Amelia Donaghy: Angelina Jolie
Thelma: Queen Latifah
Capt. Howard Cheney: Michael Rooker
Det. Kenny Solomon: Mike McGlone
Eddie Ortiz: Luis Guzmán
Richard Thompson: Leland Orser
Det. Paulie Sellitto: Ed O'Neill
The Bone Collector
is a Silence of the Lambs-style thriller with a different, but still
standard, twist. Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) has been left
paralysed after a near-fatal accident, but after some nutjob starts killing
people, Rhyme recruits street cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) to
be his eyes, ears, etc. while being out and about. The film is so-called
because the killer takes a piece of the victim's bone each time. Ho hum.
Denzel Washington seems to play himself throughout the entire film, or at
least the same character he's played for years with a bit of "Fitz" thrown in it
seems when he pulls deductions out of thin air thus rather stretching the bounds of
credibility, Angelina Jolie looks rather bored as the cop who just wants to
start her new desk job without getting involved with forensics. The rest of the time
she pouts at the camera like a startled bunny, while Queen Latifah certainly
doesn't push the boat out as one of Rhyme's home-help's, Thelma.
Michael Rooker's character is the token arrogant superior, while Al Bundy,
aka Ed O'Neill, tries to make himself seem a little more professional than
his more usual character.
How many more 'thrillers', though, must we suffer where the killer leaves such
obvious clues lying about the place? And there's laughable moments to be had when
him and her are in contact over a microphone/headset link and the camera occasionally
focuses on those sat around Denzel all staring into space with a supposedly
thought-provoking look in their eye like a statue, but they look more like they're
trying to work out what to have for dinner.
And why use a microphone/headset link anyway, when, after you see the amount of expensive
equipment set up in Denzel's home, they could have used a headset with a camera? Duh!
And how is he able to zoom in on photographs of previous homicides, which magically
focus on the close-ups?
And why do they try to create the only tension they have by making Denzel have seizures?
In his condition, he'll turn into a vegetable one day anyway, so who cares when he dies?
Even Denzel's character wants to "self-terminate" as they call it, so let him go!
The picture has a hazy look to it for most of the film, although that probably won't be
too obvious when watching from the usual viewing position, but there are plenty of flecks
throughout. The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio and is anamorphic, while
the average bitrate is 6.10Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 8Mb/s.
The sound is good when it's called for, such as a train early on, but too often the
dialogue seems rather quiet. Most of the rest of the time though, it isn't used to
its full advantage.
Extras :
Chapters :
Just 20 chapters this time round, so it could use a few more. Why not the usual 28 from
Columbia? That's almost always a decent amount.
Languages/Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and German. Subtitles in 17 languages :
English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, Croatian,
German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian and Arabic.
And there's more... :
Trailers for both this film and Devil In A Blue Dress, a 22-minute
Featurette full of the usual public-relations-chat mixed in with film clips,
Filmographies for director Noyce, plus Denzel and Angelina, an Isolated
Music Score and a feature-length Director's Commentary.
Menu :
The main menu is animated attempting to reflect the supposed creepy nature of the film,
while the rest are static.
Overall, if you're a fan of Cracker and still can't get enough of that type of
crime-solving where everything the main character says is basically the solution to
the crime, this will be worth a look, but if you want something that's not as obvious as
it can be, steer well clear.
The Region 1 DVD contains the quote, "Intense suspense thriller". No, it's the most
cliche-ridden and dull film I've seen all year, with an ending so obvious, even the
dead could see it coming.
That said, it could spawn a cheapo American TV series where one cop does all the legwork
and the token cripple merely has to, literally, lift a finger.
Oh - and to add insult to injury, the song used over the end credits, "Don't Give Up",
sung by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush, cruelly has a whole verse ripped out. Gabriel
sings his first verse, which is followed by Kate's "reply" to his second verse.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
