Murder By Numbers
Review
by : Gareth Von Kallenbach
Starring:
Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt,
Chris Penn, Ben Chaplin
Directed by: Barbet Schroeder
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The murder mystery film is a genre that has been around since
the early days of film. Over the years, audiences have thrilled
to the working of Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Pirot, and Hitchcock
as they spin and unravel the mysteries before them. In modern
times, the genre is alive and well though Hollywood seems
to have moved away from mystery series that use the same investigator
unless they are based on a book such as the Alex Cross or
the "Silence of the Lambs" series.
In the
new film "Murder By Numbers", director Barbet Schroeder presents
a new twist on the genre. Instead of letting the audience
guess who is behind the killings, the film tells the audience
who is behind the murders and why very early into the story.
Two students one rich and popular, Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling),
and one smart and reserved Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt),
have conspired to conduct the perfect murder. They have no
sinister motives behind doing this other than seeing if they
can plan and pull off the perfect murder and get away with
it. No sooner is the victim's body discovered than investigator
Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) is assigned to the case.
Cassie is determined to solve the case and working with her
new partner Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin), they set about to unravel
the mystery and follow the clues that have been left by the
killers in an effort to divert attention away from them and
onto others. Even when suspicion falls upon them, the two
boys spin their tales to further complicate the investigation.
What hampers
the film in many ways is the knowledge of who is behind the
crimes. There is little suspense to the film and star/producer
Bullock concentrates so much on her character and the back-story
that the other characters are left unfinished. Gosling and
Pitt are fantastic and a little more effort on their characters
could have turned this into a top-notch thriller. Instead
the film plays off as a movie of the week and is rendered
dull by a lack of suspense and character development. This
is one to rent rather than watch in the cinema
Gareth
Von Kallenbach
Gareth@nwlink.com
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