A One Mann’s Movies review of “To Catch a Killer” (2023).
“To Catch a Thriller” feels like a title that has been much used before. And indeed there are a string of TV movies, series and documentaries with this, or a similar title. The original title was “Misanthrope” which is a much more novel and memorable title. But I guess they assumed the general population would not know what that meant.
“To Catch a Killer” is a Sky Original movie. And – glory be – is on the positive side of the Sky Movies quality scales.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
It’s Baltimore on New Years Eve and noisy fireworks go off. But also comes the noise of rifle fire as a sharp-shooter picks off dozens of random citizens in one night. Eleanor (Shailene Woodley), an ambitious cop with a troubled background, is first on the scene at one of the shootings. The spiky FBI agent Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn), assigned to the case, “sees her potential”. He elevates her to be the “police liaison” on the team. But is the older man just trying to get in her pants?
Certification:
UK: 15*; US: R. (* Unusually, I can’t find a UK rating for this film on the BBFC web site. I think if I was reviewing this for the BBFC, I’d rate it a “15” ).
Talent:
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson.
Directed by: Damián Szifron.
Written by: Damián Szifron & Jonathan Wakeham.
Twitter Handle: #catchakillermov.
The morgue the merrier. Eleanor (Shailene Woodley) surveys the night’s carnage. (Source: Sky).
“To Catch a Killer” Review:
Positives:
- I thought this one started REALLY strongly with its opening scenes. It reminded me of the best bit of the patchy “Jack Reacher” movie from 2012: the chilling sight of a guy with a rifle randomly picking off ordinary people on a river bank.
- I’m a big fan of Shailene Woodley ever since her star-making performance in “The Descendants”. Since then she’s been the staple of the “Hunger Games”-wannabe series “Divergent“; delivered a brave performance in “Adrift“; and the surprisingly enjoyable “The Last Letter from your Lover“. She is an actress that defies the Hollywood convention of having to be drop-dead gorgeous (not that she is unattractive either!) But she carries all her performances through acting talent. Here she is given the chance to act a whole range of emotions, and she does it really well.
- Ben Mendelsohn is also good-value as the FBI guy. He has a standout cheesy speech to the troops – one of the cops calls it out as cheesy – that is hugely entertaining.
- Yorkshire-born Ralph Ineson, not seen until the last reel, is also memorable. The last film I clocked his name in was the wonderful “Green Knight“. There, Ineson played the tituler role and had the memorable line “Now, off with your head”. Classic!
- I liked the “Jaws”-like dynamic. The law enforcement team are trying to catch the killer and protect the City’s residents. But the politicians are more interested in “how things look”. To highlight this, there’s even a reference to “Jaws” in the script. “The Mayor was still the mayor in the sequel to Jaws” says Jesse Capleton (Nick Walker), the city mayor’s aide. Nice line.
- The script is also neat in painting the background to Lammark’s character. There’s a sexual “Me Too” tension felt by Eleanor’s character, as the younger employee with the older male boss. “Sir…”, says Eleanor “…if you hired me so you could fuck me, you can take this job and you can shove it up your ass”. The outburst leads to a nice twist I didn’t see coming.
- There are some deft film-making touches by the Argentinian director Damián Szifron. He seems – if you look at his entry on IMDB – to have tried every film-making skill behind the camera! He delivers a jolting scare a few minutes into the movie that is a sudden “WTF” moment! (I could have used a few more of those surprises in the running time).
Negatives:
- As a film about female empowerment it’s a good story: a woman, battling her own demons, but focused on being a professional…. better than the men around her and trying to rise to the top. There are regular reinforcements about the mysogeny in the force, with her being asked to get the teas in; mind the baby; etc. etc. – – and that’s fine. Unfortunately, Szifron can’t seem to help getting some voyeuristic shots of Woodley’s body into the film: Eleanor sitting on the toilet; Eleanor lying in the bath; languorous underwater shots of Eleanor’s shapely body swimming lengths of the pool. It feels like it undermines her message.
- The ending felt rather overcooked and unrealistic to me.
Summary Thoughts on “To Catch a Killer”
This was an entertaining watch, held together by great performances from Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn. Although the film never quite reaches the promise of those opening 15 minutes, it’s still a worthwhile watch and better than a lot of recent Sky Original Movies for sure.
[fblike]
Trailer for “To Catch a Killer”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEUX9HwlF5c . The trailer has a couple of spoilers, particularly for the “WTF moment” I mentioned in my review. Best avoided unless you’ve seen the film.
