unexpected little gem :). great performances
I loved it. Good ambience, interesting and well performed characters, intriguing and unpredictable story, good soundtrack. Surprised me for good.
Low budget mystery/thriller filmed out of Montreal (I caught the per litre gas price in the background. It's set in Baltimore). that got some good buzz so I gave it a go tonight. Really like a lot of Mendelsohn's & Woodley's work so that was an easy setup. I find the comparison to Silence of the Lambs a bit tenuous , but this was a solid effort in its own right. It didn't always go for the easy or popular choice. Happy we watched this one. Gritty one for the adults in the room. 7.1
Although it isn't flawless, it is still indeed a very good movie. I really enjoyed it.
The plot of course isn't so original but it was really well conveyed. The start and the ending especially stood out. They were done amazingly.
The cinematography was just stunning. The movie is shot so well.
My personal rating:
-Plot (Story Arc and Plausibility): 7/10
-Attraction (Premise & Entertainment Value): 7/10
-Theme (Identity & Depth): 8/10
-Acting (Characters & Performance): 7/10
-Dialogue (Storytelling & Context): 8/10
-Cinematography (Visual Language & Lighting, Setting, and Wardrobe): 8/10
-Editing (Pace & Effects): 7/10
-Soundtrack (Sound Design & Film Score): 7/10
-Directing (Vision & Execution): 8/10
-The “It” Factor (One-of-a-Kind & Transcendent): 7/10Overall: 7/10 || 74/100
i nearly didn't watch this after reading the mixed reviews but I'm glad I did ,good story good actors and a good ending, all I need from a movie.
Meh. Great story but not enough action for my preference. There is a lot of “Personal situations” scenes and non ending dialogue that is unrelated the the main plot. Finding the killer.
Woodley and Mendelsohn always deliver
It seemed to have a good story, but it managed to get completely lost.
I kept scrolling past this for a while but finally gave it go. It was worth it. Got pretty freaky at the end, but it was a decent thriller that I could imagine turning into a series, or maybe a couple of followups with Eleanor as there is so much more that could be explored about her.
Not bad. Not great. Fairly standard police suspense, catch the killer, story. Good acting, decent story. Ending felt a little thrown together. Could’ve been better.
The great cinematography meant I couldn't give it a lower score than 6. Piss poor dialogue, really painfully bad writing. It was hard to get through because of that. Watched it for everything else. Decent sound design, and absolutely wonderful/stellar shots. All the actors really had to step it up to deliver the lines, which they mostly did. Still so painful to get through because... the writing was so awful all the way through... If not for the cinematography it would get a 3.
This was an interesting premise that broken people are better equipped to hunt the broken. Shailene Woodley beautifully inhabited her character’s fractured, intelligent soul. I’ve afraid to say that Ben Mendelsohn was a poor cast choice for me. I couldn’t connect with his character which robbed the drama of the impetus that Lammark’s relationship was to give Eleanor to persevere. However, the casting of Ralph Ineson was superb and the last scenes in the cabin and the shed were played with such compassion and beauty that they will stick with me for awhile. I give this film a high 7 (compelling) out of 10. [Crime Drama]
I like the slow burn and the unhurried pace of the film. Multiple surprising scenes. I did not mind the lack of action.
A slow burn , but a really good movie. Worth Watching.
I give it an 8/10.
This is GOOD. Watch this! They use Woodley and Mendelson to good effect. Woodley has a production credit and she's always struck me as being sharp as a tack. I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't the glue holding this all together.
It starts out kind of generic, but the ending works. I just finished watching and it wasn't a cookie cutter ending. It's not great, but a solid thriller.
It's supposed to be a thriller with a serial killer, but it's an interesting study of man's loneliness in the fight against himself and politics.
Opinions are polar and there are many of them, it’s like a festival! Misanthropy is not only misanthropy, it makes you lonely and unhappy. The film shows well that only a girl with a similar character was able to catch the “shooter”. This is watched with interest, the detective is truly true. Leaves food for the brain
It was ok until the end. Whoever wrote this: Please do f*** o**
There were times when dark detective thrillers had a firm place at the movies, but these are unfortunately long gone. I was all the more pleased that with "To Catch a Killer," a film of this subgenre made it to the big screen again, and it didn't disappoint. The whole opening sequence is extremely atmospheric and also offers some creative camera angles. The tension is palpable from the start and continues to build throughout the film. Lead actress Shailene Woodley, who I'm not a big fan of usually, is really strong here. And Ben Mendelsohn is also more than convincing.
The story and the whole case are certainly not entirely original, but the investigation at the center of the plot has a few nice twists and turns and is comprehensible throughout. Meanwhile, the characterization of main character Eleanor sometimes drifts perhaps a bit too much into the cliché of the troubled heroine, but Woodley is so good that I can overlook that. The whole resolution of the plot is also satisfying throughout. The odd bit of questionably written dialogue therefore hardly bothers me.
With all my praise, I might have to add that this is one of my favorite genres, and I usually always like movies like "The Silence of the Lambs". Of course, "To Catch a Killer" doesn't come close to that, but I was nevertheless completely satisfied.
As far as I can read, the mixed reviews are because of the "woke and political agenda" for some viewers, probably Americans. No surprise there.
This is a really good police thriller with great cinematography, so so acting, and very entertaining. Yes it's a slow burner with occasional good action sequences. If that's not enough, and if you need more action, maybe you should choose some Jason Statham or Vin Diesel movies, you'll satisfy your needs there.
Why Shailene Woodley? Well, she's the film producer, so that's why. She's not great, but also not bad at all. And Mendelsohn is perfect as always, good casting there.
I know this movie doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but it's definitely a very entertaining "catch a killer" drama and worth watching
Enjoyable movie with plenty of action. Will never be a must-see movie but you should watch it. The CGI was a bit dodgy at the beginning, but overall a good watch.
7.5/10
3/10, why? Too woke to be true.
This is the worst detective movie I ever seen. I saw better detective work in the Scooby Doo old cartoons.
This was pretty good although with a few too many subplots that seemed forced but didn’t take away from the overall movie which was crazy.
This isn't a terrible movie. It's not great, but it's not the worst way to waste a couple hours on a somewhat predictable cop movie. The real problem is Shaileen Woodley, she really has very little to offer audiences because her acting is "meh". I think there are elements to this film that are interesting, but some that are silly.
So you suddenly use a bunch of lasers right after the incident to pinpoint where the shooter was - a smart way to figure that out but not likely to happen so rapidly that you let the shooter know that you have his precise location so he can then blow it up.
I think if they had roped in a few good actors this would be better. Again, not that it's horrible but I don't ever see myself watching it again and that's one of my benchmarks for if I think a movie is good or not is that I'll watch it again.
could have been better, but they have to push their political agenda.
Shaileen Woodley wasn’t a good cast for this movie. I can’t think who would have been better but needed more of a Sandra Bullock type. Less moody. Also Ben Mendelssohn was a bit too Tommy Lee Jones wannabe.
A slow burner but totally worth it
There are a few good moments in this thriller but for the most part, the script is as generic as the title.
I was hoping for more.
So there's a lot of dumb tech that cops in hollywood have. But reverse lasers here is one of the stupidiest. Not that it wouldn't work. Not that real cops don't do it. But doing it on a live crimescene literally lets the person know you're on to them. You can just use a camera or non vis laser.
Such cop nonsense. They've literally done nothing and they're already clapping for themselves.
Unnamed Cop: Sir, They have him
Lammark: What do you mean "They have him"? Who has him?
Come on.. pronoun game? Like why on earth would the cop not at least say "They have your shooter"
Lammark: This is the profile of people we arrest, not hire.
No it isn't. Everyone knows the line between criminal and cop is drawn in invisible ink. Half the cop shows tell us about how cops have to think like criminals, pose as criminals and yet somehow we're suppose to believe they're so separate and different on a mental level? Heck half the time the cops ARE criminals and doing criminal things and doing normal things in criminal ways. We know this. We've proven this. This copaganda about cops and criminals being :huffs: "So different" is just silly.
The emotional reveal here kinda felt empty to me. I kinda think it wasn't foreshadowed well enough. There's beeen a lovely drama and crime tension building but nothing worth of that "Is that enough" line.
Honestly the ending of this movie really disproves the lie of policing. There's never an excuse to put that many bullets in a suspect who is no longer a threat. This is ironically why plea bargains are garbage. There's not there to quickly resolve cases that would take up the courts time. There's the other end of a grind stone. Overchage someone and then let them plea out to a case they might not want because you overstep and put too much risk. That's not an option that's coercion.
I think the most interesting aspect of this movie is the killer. The killer is interesting. They have a compelling background and make interesting choices. Unfortunately the movie thinks the investigators are the main focus. and they kinda aren't interesting. I mean there's good enough. It really is more of a grind and find cop movie more than a puzzle box cop movie. And that's fine. Lammark is interesting as a company man who wants to do the work but the company keeps stepping in but for all his cowtowing because he "picks his battles". He never really chooses a moment to show backbone. Something you kind of expect him to do towards the end. It kind of didn't match his character. Eleanor as the "rookie" on the case who has a unique connection to the killer could have been more interesting but while the acting was fine the writing felt like she didn't have anything to do. Until the very end of the movie when she suddenly got interesting just in time for the closing curtain. Maybe if this had been another 30-40 minutes they could have had some time to make me care about the investigators. I rooted for them but I didn't care about them.
Shout by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2023-04-26T19:34:56Z
Like a part-time cop with the blues, this movie has a lot of down time.
This remake of the every 1980s thriller starts off with a bang -- which is the absolute bare minimum -- and then degenerates into the cliché depressed cop trying to catch the killer (whose motivation for perpetrating the big intro is basically ignored throughout the rest of the movie) despite her inner demons and constant challenges from internal authorities.
There's a tiny bit of action and zero suspense but lots of brooding, if that's what you want in a thriller.