The Bone Collector

The Bone Collector

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Movie Reviews of The Bone Collector

Movie Review: Who needs originality?
Summary: 5 Stars

The plot is pretty routine: a killer begins taking lives and leaving clues behind for the police to find, weaving an intricate puzzle of mystery and chills. The police detective in charge of the case is Lincoln Rhyme, a top homicide investigator and author of crime books who became a quadriplegic through an accident on the job. The movie chooses to take this character and build on him immensely (you'd think there'd be no where to go with the material with his one position being in his sick bed, but you'll be surprised). He has a lot to build on with his knowledge of crime and how killers work, so his intelligence and education guide the movie along its routine plot in a new and exciting fashion.

While he must remain on the inside, he chooses a beat cop by the name of Amelia Donaghy to take the assignment of assessing the indivisual crime scenes and relaying the look and feel of the place back to him, all the while taking on the duties of gathering evidence and clues and bringing them to his attention. From the beginning of their acquaintance, it's clear that this is going to be a rocky road. Donaghy feels she is not adequate for the job, or the stomach, while Rhyme knows she has the potential to carry on with the task. Their collaboration and onscreen time together are the most enjoyable parts of the film.

Through the clues the killer keeps leaving at each crime scene, they discover the location and nature of the next crime, arriving too little too late to save the victims from death. Their penetrations into the remaining evidence leads them to the realization that the killer is following the murders in a book titled "The Bone Collector," and their finding of this book is what sparks the final climax that comes as a bit of a shock, and does have its surprises.

The movie is not the most original piece ever to be filmed, and this must be realized in order to enjoy the movie. It has the regular features of a movie of this sort: the intelligent detective and the cop under his wing (one original twist here is that the cop ends up doing all the work, and the detective doesn't try to take all the credit), the bungling cops who don't believe for a minute the findings of the cop/detective team, a killer who leaves hints and clues only to kill more people without mercy. The story pattern here is pretty routine, I will admit that, but if you can set aside your need for a fresh new story and just enjoy this movie for its thrills and intensity, then you won't be disappointed.

Thrills and intensity are all but absent here, keeping the movie moving at a nice steady pace the quickens when the plot requires it to. These two elements, plot and suspense, work extremely well together, and have a certain lingo to which they stick. In moments of intense action, the suspense is fast and incredible, while scenes that move slower have a gradual build of suspense that provides a healthy balance for its audience. For the amount of unoriginal material in this story, the movie does quite well for itself in making is watchable and suspenseful.

Of course, the big mystery of this film is finding out who the killer is, and what his motives are for lashing out in such a gruesome way. This is the best aspect of the story, because the killer ends up being the last person in the world you would think to guess at. Also comes the fact that the killer may or may not be involved in Rhyme's life, which is another suspense builder which keeps you guessing until the brutal climax. Even the ending itself is a bit routine, but hey, with all that's happened in this film, is seems to work with the material, and that's more than enough to recommend it.

Our key characters here are played by superb actors who each have unique qualities and attributes to offer to their roles. Denzel Washington, perhaps one of the most accomplished actors ever, plays Lincoln Rhyme, and he makes the role much more involved and important than any other actor would just lying in a bed spouting out gibberish. He makes us believe in Rhyme's struggle to keep himself alive by keeping up with his work. Angelina Jolie is stunning as Amelia Donaghy, bringing strength and emotion to her role. She portrays her character as strong yet weak, a woman whose need to get the job done does not provide for much of an emotional outlet. Queen Latifah makes an appearance as Rhyme's nurse, and although she doesn't have much to do here, she does offer what she can in advancing the script comically and sometimes intelligently.

"The Bone Collector" is unoriginal, uninspired, and routine, but it takes the same old material and gives it a nice treatment, certainly worth more than my fellow critics would have you think. It is able to keep a high momentum throughout its discourse, allowing for some very high tension and suspense, all anchored together by the powerful performances of Washington and Jolie, who have a unique chemistry onscreen. If you can set aside your need for something new, this movie does work on more than one level, and proves itself worthy of recommendation.

Summary of The Bone Collector