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Movies / On DVD / The Watcher
The Watcher

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The Watcher (2000)

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Reviews Counted:24

Fresh:2

Rotten:22

Average Rating:3.3/10

Consensus: The Watcher has Keanu Reeves cast against type, but the movie is short on thrills, suspense, and believability.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

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... 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. [More]

Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Robert Cicchini

Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Robert Cicchini, Chris Ellis, Ernie Hudson, Jenny McShane

Director: Joe Charbanic

Director: Joe Charbanic
Screenwriter: Clay Ayers, Joe Charbanic, David Elliott, Darcy Meyers
Producer: Nile Niami, Patrick Choi

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 20, 2001

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Reviews for The Watcher

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/06/08
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/10/05
Lisa Alspector
Lisa Alspector
Chicago Reader
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You can't buy Keanu as a sadist, but you do worry about the guys who wrote the screenplay.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/25/03
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ebert & Roeper
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[Keanu's] line readings, aiming for a mixture of suavity and creepiness, just sound silly.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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The same sick story. Even the small touches seem stale.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Andy Seiler
Andy Seiler
USA Today
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A hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles. Not many thrills, either.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle
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The Watcher is a numbingly familiar exercise in fear, disgorging regular doses of grisly violence buoyed by precious little plot and pitifully thin character development.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
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First-time director Joe Charbanic seems to have watched too many music videos.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press
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The Watcher will have written itself in your head by your third handful of popcorn.

Full Review Source: Mr. Showbiz | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cody Clark
Cody Clark
Mr. Showbiz
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie is called The Watcher and, let me tell you, it's something no one should watch. Not this weekend. Not on video. Not in this lifetime.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Watcher proves to be low on suspense and high on contrivances.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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To borrow a phrase from another Chicagoan, John Belushi, The Watcher is a 'but nooooo' movie.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
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A crass, mechanical attempt at a thriller that should have gone straight to video.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
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While intelligently plotted and well-acted by James Spader, Keanu Reeves and Marisa Tomei, it is neither acutely suspenseful nor particularly thrilling but instead mainly numbing.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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Multiple candles may be a universal symbol in movies (and rock videos) for romance and spirituality. But they're useless in illuminating the deadness of The Watcher.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
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Exactly the kind of movie you might happen upon while watching Cinemax in your hotel room and think, 'This'll do till Conan comes on.'

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Salon.com
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Is neither slick, clever nor especially thrilling.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Paul Tatara
Paul Tatara
CNN.com
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A minor, but watchable, melodrama.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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