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Dem dry bones
Posted Thu, 20 Jan 2000
The talents of Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie elevate Hollywood's latest serial killer thriller, "The Bone Collector", out of the formulaic doldrums.
It has to be said that Denzel Washington is a phenomenal actor with a magnetic presence. He is commanding, intelligent, and has one of the coolest struts in cinema this side of John Travolta. But, in "The Bone Collector", Washington doesn't show off his formidable physical form and manages to pull off a mesmerising performance using only his voice, his eyes, and his one finger.
Washington plays Lincoln Rhyme, a police forensics guru who is paralysed in an accident while surveying a murder scene. He is relegated to his apartment, molly-coddled by a nurse (Queen Latifah), and forced to endure sporadic seizures powerful enough to transform him into a vegetable.
When a couple of freshly buried bodies are stumbled upon by rookie cop Amelia Donaghy, played to perfection by Angelina Jolie ("Gia"), a series of harrowing events are set in motion that provide Rhyme with the opportunity to, once again, feel useful.
With Rhyme cooped up in a flat, Donaghy is forced to serve as his eyes, tracking a meticulous serial killer as he leaves a string of bodies in his wake. Jolie is indeed a superstar in waiting. Her rookie cop with her heavy Brooklyn accent and her haunted, insulated demeanour is both believable and gripping to watch.
The character dynamic between her and Washington is reminiscent of the uneasy collaboration between Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling in "The Silence Of The Lambs". But the genre references in "The Bone Collector" don't stop there. There are stylistic allusions to "Seven", "Copycat" and any other thriller in the same vein released in recent years.
Director Phillip Noyce ("Clear And Present Danger", "The Saint") doesn't try to reinvent the genre. Clearly, his chief intention is to simply entertain. He is aided in this regard by an appealing supporting cast, consisting of Ed O'Neill ("TV's Married With Children"), Luis Guzman ("Boogie Nights"), Mike McGlone ("The Brothers McMullen") and Michael Rooker ("Cliffhanger").
Ultimately, the killer's motivation turns out to be rather lame. But the pleasure of watching a veteran actor at the top of his game and a young starlet flexing her ever-growing thespian muscles, more than makes up for it.
