I’ve always been rather puzzled by the popularity of Angelina Jolie. She seemed to pop up out of nowhere a few years ago with the movie “Gia” and has ever since been showing up in back to back movies every year. Granted a lot of her PR seems to point out that she is somewhat of a nut case, so I’m sure this goes a long way to advancing her career. Everyone wants to see the chick who kisses her brother, married then divorced Billy Bob Thornton, wants to adopt every living child on the planet, and according to the press she now wants to sleep with every male that has ever been her friend. I admittedly take most of these stories with a grain of salt as I’m familiar with how the press tends to report things out of context, but the casual moviegoer doesn’t tend to check facts and believes everything that comes out of the Globe.

(I actually knew a girl once who claimed to know that all the stories in the supermarket rags were true… because she worked at Kroger. Only in Texas…)

I’ve seen a lot of Jolie’s films, some because I actually wanted to, others because I had to. The one positive aspect of her being in so many movies is that those few that are good are generally really good, and those are the ones everyone remembers. Or in the case of the Lara Croft films, they weren’t really that great but she was physically perfect in the role. Recently she did a film that leaned in the direction of the really good, though didn’t completely cross the line into the territory of great. “Taking Lives” is Jolie’s answer to the popular Hollywood standard that pits a beautiful woman cop/FBI agent/detective against a maniacal serial killer.

Jolie plays Illeana Scott, and FBI profiler who is sent to Montreal to help track down a serial killer that’s been on the loose for twenty years. His M.O. is an interesting one, as he stalks people who have no family or friends, so that he can take over their lives after he’s dispatched them. Once he tires of the charade, he searches out a new one and starts all over again. Jolie’s take on Scott is similar to that of Frank Black of “Millenium” or Samantha Waters of “Profiler” in that she completely throws herself into her work. The setting of the movie is also similar in that it is very, very dark.

During her investigation, she meets an art dealer (Ethan Hawke), who witnessed one of the murders and caught a glimpse at the killer, and also the mother (Gena Rowland) of said killer. We even get the added plus of having Kiefer Sutherland in the cast as one of the main suspects in the investigation.

“Taking Lives” could have been one of those serial killer movies of the week, but thanks to the casting, as well as a surprisingly coherent plot it rises above that ranking. It’s a much better than average thriller, with just enough red herrings in it that you’re never really sure who the killer really is. Usually when I watch a movie like this, I can second guess just about everything, but this time I was caught off guard a bunch of times. And for once, I didn’t figure out the ending before it came.

The only real weakness I found in the film was Jolie herself. This goes back to the puzzlement of her popularity. She’s an okay actress, though she’s usually able to get past her shortcomings with a strong screen presence. It works for her here, but not completely. I never totally bought the fact that she was an FBI profiler. Her character was weakened even more with an obligatory ‘love scene’ between her and Ethan Hawke. I’m all for love scenes when they work for the plot, but here it not only felt thrown in for the rating, but rather silly and stilted. Every position was posed, and badly at that.

The DVD for “Taking Lives” had a surprising amount of extra features, including four different featurettes focusing on the making of the film, a look at director DJ Caruso, interviews with the cast and how Caruso worked with editor Anne V Coates to make the film work. Put together, they come up to close to 20 minutes. There’s also a gag reel, which is always a welcome feature on any DVD release.

While I can’t say that “Taking Lives” is a great cop thriller as it suffers from Jolie’s performance, it is an above average movie that will keep you guessing up until the end, thanks to the great plot.

Directed by: D. J. Caruso
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Olivier Martinez, Tcheky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Gena Rowlands
Extras: “Taking Lives Crime Lab” - 4 Documentaries: “The Art of Collaboration”, “Profiling a Director”, “Bodies of Evidence”, and “Puzzle Within the Puzzle”, Gag Reel, Theatrical Trailer
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 8/17/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R
Website

We'll give Taking Lives a C+.