The Watcher (2000)
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Box Office: $9,062,295
Synopsis:
FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) has gone into hiding. Traumatized and beaten down after years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, he is trying to carve a new, less stressful, life for himself in Chicago. But his guilty past follows him. He has only been in Chicago for a few...
FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) has gone into hiding. Traumatized and beaten down after years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, he is trying to carve a new, less stressful, life for himself in Chicago. But his guilty past follows him. He has only been in Chicago for a few months when there is a rash of gruesome murders, all of which follow a sickeningly familiar pattern: They are undoubtedly the work of one man -- David Allen Griffin (Keanu Reeves).
The cunning and tormenting Griffin prodded and eluded Campbell for years in Los Angeles. And now he has pursued his tracker to Chicago. For Griffin, the vicious, merciless killing of lonely young women has merely become a pretext for a sadistic game of cat and mouse game between himself and Campbell. Before each murder he sends the FBI agent a photograph of his intended victim and dares him to find her before he strikes again.
Each successive killing reminds Campbell of his past failures, dredging up feelings of helplessness and loss that he has been trying to suppress. And for his nemesis Griffin, Campell's exquisite torture becomes his entire reason for killing.
He meticulously stages one final murder, designed to destroy Campbell by confronting him with his guilt-plagued past. And unless Campbell can stop him, he will become the killer's ultimate victim.
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Robert Cicchini, Chris Ellis
Screenwriter: Clay Ayers, Joe Charbanic, David Elliott, Darcy Meyers
Producer: Nile Niami, Patrick Choi
DVD Info
Release:
Jun 26, 2007
HD DVD Features:
- Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround - English, French
- Subtitles - English (SDH), French - Optional
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
If I never see another scene in which a woman is bound and gagged, while her killer struts around the room basking in his own psychotic cleverness, I won't mind a bit.
One of the lamest serial killer thrillers of the post-Silence of the Lambs era.
You can't buy Keanu as a sadist, but you do worry about the guys who wrote the screenplay.
Dreadful performances, scanty motivation and excruciating dialogue.
The script sucks, the directing sucks, and, as much as I do like him, Keanu sucks.
Peters out like a late-night drunk when its threadbare plot and poorly drawn supporting characters start to stand out like a row of empty shot glasses.
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