Cassie
Mayweather (Sandra Bullock)
Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling)
Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt)
Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin)
Ray (Chris Penn)
Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Written by Tony Gayton
Running
Time: 119 minutes
Distributed by Warner Bros.
|
|
Murder
by Numbers is a film that strives to be a smart thriller,
but it hardly reaches its goal. The film itself is a modest
thriller that has some good elements in it, but lacks capture
of its intentions.
The film,
in my opinion, centers around two high school killers that
are totally opposites. There is Richard Haywood (Gosling),
a cocky, rich and arrogant kid that likes to manipulate and
control. And there is Justin Pendleton (Pitt), who is a quiet,
lonely whiz kid that is fascinated with crimes and killings.
How the two get together, the audience never sees, but they
occasionally meet in an abandoned lodge near the ocean. The
two carefully conspire and create the ultimate plan for a
murder by studying other murders and the techniques of crime
scene investigation, in which they can commit a crime, just
right with intensity, but still safe to get away with it.
Within
the first twenty minutes of the film, the victim is found
by the police. Now enters the hero, Cassie Mayweather (Bullock),
who is a great but sometimes questioned homicide detective.
She accompanied by her new partner, the straight arrow Sam
Kennedy (Chaplin). The two put together clue after clue to
finding the killers. The investigation leads them to questioning
Richard and Justin, but Sam insists that they don’t fit
the profile. However, Cassie believes other wise and continues
to search for clues to prove her hunch of the two students
being involved in the murder.
Crafty
director Barbet Schroeder pulls the audience into this story
slowly, but for the most part effectively. Though the film
lacks some usual thrills and it moves slowly at moments, I
thought that Schroeder brought a nice flow and persistence
to the film. However, I really disliked some of the director’s
choices towards the end of the film.
The dismal
ending could also be blamed on the choices of the writer of
the film, Tony Gayton. There are also some subplots that are
dull and the script has a number of flaws. What I thought
worked in the script and the movie itself was the two killers.
I found it disturbing, but also believable that way these
two high school students think and their sense of reality.
Especially with the character of Richard, who is obsessed
with everything and gets what he wants.
Sandra
Bullock takes on a darker role as the detective Cassie Mayweather.
Bullock is a crowd pleaser and a star in Hollywood, but look
forward to deliver the real goods in her next film Divine
Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), which opens this summer.
Ben Chaplin, who plays Cassie’s partner, is a likeable
actor that was in such films as The Thin Red Line (1998) and
Lost Souls (2001), but I believe he needs to pick better roles.
Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt, who play the two young students,
deliver twisted performances. Gosling, who was in Remember
the Titans (2000), captures the believable cockiness and power-hungry
attitude with his character that is shaped into a person you
really won’t like. Pitt, who was in Hedwig and the Angry
Inch (2001), is subtle but also good as the loner, but very
smart Justin.
Murder
by Numbers is not a horrible film; it is watchable in my opinion.
For the most part I believe it will stand well with audiences.
I just really saw the ending as nearly laughable and the flaws
of the film are very noticeable.
Report
Card Grade: C
Mighty
Beastman
|
