Tags
2000's, Bruce A. Evans, Dane Cook, Danielle Panabaker, Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, Marg Helgenberger, Mr. Brooks, Psychological Thriller, Thriller, William Hurt
A rather intriguing psychological thriller that begins losing bits of its promise because of some needles baggage , Mr. Brooks is a rather mixed movie. While it has some stellar and pretty interestingly dark parts to it , some of it doesn’t feel as explored as I’d like and some of it becomes too overstuffed for this viewer’s liking. But it’s still watchable and rather unsettling viewing with an array of good acting to find in it.
To everyone else, the seemingly amiable Earl Brooks(Kevin Costner) has it all. A loving wife Emma (Marg Helgenberger )and college bound daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) , a successful business and the respect of the Portland community that he lives in. But Earl is hiding a horrible secret; he is addicted to killing people in a very particular way. He hasn’t killed in two years but his vicious alter ego Marshall(William Hurt) convinces him to get back into the habit. Earl has attended addiction meetings , not revealing the full nature of his habit, but hoping something to can help him to quench the thirst for blood. He follows a particular pattern when he kills that consists of meticulous planning, staging the scene and using the blood of his victors, he places two fingerprints at the scene of murder. This in the past , has given rise to his nickname of The Thumbprint Killer. By giving in to his murderous impulses again, Earl becomes more on edge at balancing both sides of his life. Adding to this stress is the fact that a weird young man who goes by the name of Mr. Smith( Dane Cook) has pictures of Earl at the scene of his latest crime. But instead of wanting to hand him into the police, Smith forces Earl into letting him be a part of his twisted acts of killing. Being blackmailed by the edgy Mr. Smith puts strain on the hold Earl has over what starts to become a precarious position. Meanwhile Tracy Atwood(Demi Moore), a troubled detective is on the trail of Earl as she has spent years trying to find him and bring him to justice. Things begin to unravel as the dark impulses take over for Earl and his ordered existence threatens to evaporate because of his struggle to keep his true nature in check. Plus with Tracy on the case, the stakes begin to mount .
Bruce A. Evans directs the rather fascinating premise of someone being addicted to killing with a sense of creepiness that gets under your skin. Granted it’s rather morbid when you think about it , but it’s rather compelling too. There’s even snippets of every dark humour that often come courtesy of the character Marshall; who provides an acidic, vicious but sometimes startlingly funny take on life. The problem in Mr. Brooks arises that it all gets a little too bogged down with side plots , that it’s distracts from the rather unusual but interesting story amidst it all. The subplot of a criminal escaping and coming after Tracy and the possibility that Earl’s daughter has inherited her father’s murderous impulses go absolutely nowhere . If the director and screenplay had decided to jettison these parts, the film might have been a bit smoother for my liking and I’m certain the audience’s too .Mr. Brooks has a moody look to it( lots of dark and muted shading) that suits the story, as does the slightly ambient/electronic score that is present throughout and fits pretty well as mayhem ensues.
Kevin Costner heads proceedings as the eponymous killer; effectively playing both to his usual charming type and playing against it with unnerving results. Costner makes Earl far from just a murderous monster, instead he’s a conflicted man akin to an addict. His compulsion to kill is what drives him and causes his perfect existence to come undone. And it has to be said that Costner turns in a compelling performance that’s both oddly tragic and bone chilling. William Hurt steals the show as the murderous devil in the shoulder who only Earl can see. Viciously cruel and darkly funny, Hurt is having a whale of a time creating the central conflict of the film. The scenes with him and Costner are often the best parts in this rather uneven movie and keep you watching. Demi Moore impresses as a tough as nails detective on a mission. While the writing of the character is rather up and down , Moore at least gets across the determination and often headstrong attitude of someone going through a lot but soldiering through it best she can. Though it would have been nice to have had more focus and depth in the part, Moore definitely does what she can and rises above the limitations of the dialogue she’s saddled with to show a gritty cop refusing to back down . A surprising performance comes courtesy of Dane Cook , who I usually know from his starring roles in comedic work. Cook is unusually convincing as a creepy young man with too much time on his hands that leads to dark and violent wants. He plays the perils of amorality, nihilism and voyeurism with unexpected delight, resulting in a fine and rather unsettling performance that is hard to ignore. Unfortunately talented performers like Marg Helgenberger and Danielle Panabaker are left stranded and with nothing in terms of interest to work with, playing the wife oblivious to her husband’s horrifying secret and the daughter who comes back home to stay after flunking college .
So all in all, Mr. Brooks is mixed in how it turns out. For all the intrigue of the premise, it squanders some of the promise by needlessly overstuffing the film with subplots that don’t go anywhere. Still I recommend it for the performances within it and a few nifty twists and turns along the way.