'Suspect Zero' is strangely lifeless

Suspect Zero (2004)
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, and Carrie-Anne Moss
Director:
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

A disgraced FBI agent (Eckhart) becomes the target of taunts from an apparent serial killer (Kingsley), but as the case unfolds it becomes clear that the taunts are more like case-notes and the killer is actually hunting other serial killers. Including perhaps the worst serial killer in history.

It's a little hard to tell what went wrong with "Suspect Zero". Given top-drawer cast and the creepy idea of a serial killer-killing serial killer profiler who uses psychic remote viewing to identify and track his targets this should have been quite the thriller.

But I found myself so bored with the first half hour that I almost gave up on the film, and when it finally became entertaining, it held my attention only very loosely.

Part of what makes the movie dull is that the characters feel lifeless, partly because the central characters never rise above the level of chiches (the tortured zealot agent, the inscrutable murderer, the loyal and supportive female agent), but also because the performers seem like they're giving their bare minimum. I expect Carrie-Anne Moss's performance to be perfunctory, but Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley have both been far better with far less to work with than what I can envision that this film COULD have been.

Also, the film's is a little too predictable. When the pieces fall into place and the biggest mysteries are solved at roughly the one-hour mark, the rest of the picture unfolds on a straight line with no further twists. The ending, while stylish and thoroughly set up by everything that preceded it, feels abrupt and unsatisfying. It's clear that the movie ends when it's over--and I appreciate the fact that the filmmakers didn't feel obligated to tack on one of those obnoxious "shock endings" or "final twists" that ruin so many horror flicks and thrillers these days--but I was still left wanting something more. Perhaps more of a point, beyond "when you stare into the abyss, it stares back at you", "sometimes sacrifices have to be made to defeat great evil" or "free will isn't free" (or whatever point the ending was supposed to convey).

Overall, this film left me a sentiment that I more frequently reserve for low-budget pictures by inexperienced filmmakers with green casts: There was lots of potential here, and it would have been fantastic if it had been spent on a better movie.

Riding the 'Transsiberian' can be deadly

Transsiberian (2008)
Starring: Emily Mortimer, Woody Harrelson, Eduardo Noriega, Kate Mara and Ben Kingsley
Director: Brad Anderson
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An American couple (Harrelson and Mortimer) traveling from Shanghai to Moscow by train are befriended by a pair of shady fellow travelers (Mara and Noriega). They are soon trapped in a web of lies and deceit as the wife tries to cover up a murder and her guiless husband befriends a Russian police detective (Kingsley) with secrets of his own.


"Transsiberian" is a well-written, character-driven thriller that when it's at its best will remind you of Alfred Hitchcock greats like "Blackmail" and "The Lady Vanishes". It's a morally complex thriller that will keep you guessing as to what's coming next and that takes full advantage of both the cramped quarters of the Trans-Siberian Express, the forgotten, crumbling Russian towns it stops at, and of the icy expanse of Siberia in winter, a place that seems more confining than the train cars because, despite the vast empty spaces, there is nowhere to escape to.

Unfortunately, when it's at its worst, it will bore you or have you shaking your head at the nonsense you're expected to buy into.

Basically, the film is a little too slow in getting started. It's great that director/co-writer Brad Anderson takes some time to establish the people on the train and the atmosphere of Siberia, but he does it over and over and over to the point where it starts feeling like he's attempting to pad the film's running time. And, as it builds to its conclusion and every character's true nature is revealed, the film swerves into action movie territory of a like that would have been more at home in a Paramount-released "Bulldog Drummond"-type adventure (just to stay with my comparing of this movie to than the Hitchcockian drama that we have here). The ultimate defeat of the bad guys is also a little deus ex machina in nature, but it was set up earlier in the film so it could have been worse.

The material sandwiched between the slow beginning and over-the-top ending is, however, very good. The actors all do excellent jobs at bringing the characters to three-dimensional life, something which the script supports them in by giving each character their own voice and unique nature. Woody Harrelson is better in this film than I think I've ever seen him. Also, I've not seen sequences featuring a character who killed in self-defense and who is now trying to escape the crime since Hitchcock's "Blackmail", and a lot of that can be credited to Emily Mortimer's performance as Jessie.

If you're a fan of Hitchcock-type thrillers, you should check it out. Just be patient with the beginning.