The Watcher Review
by Chad Polenz (ChadPolenz AT aol DOT com)October 14th, 2000
The Watcher
When most critics describe a movie as being "by the books" or "follows all the rules" they usually mean it in a derogatory way. I was thinking of using one of those kinds of phrases to review "The Watcher." After all, it is a big budget Hollywood serial killer flick with marquee names, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. Sophomoric maybe, but definitely not bad.
Serial killer movies are a big box office draw but they're not exactly the easiest films to make, or make well at least. You need a hero you can really stand behind but one with some kind of personal weakness or character flaw so that they're not invincible. You also need a nasty killer who has a sick style in the way he operates. The better criminal he is, the more we want him caught.
A good screenplay and tight direction are also needed to bring it all together and make it work. You want a story that's complex but not so intricate that it's confusing, and you need good direction to keep the pace moving for consistent suspense.
"The Watcher" does a fair job in balancing these components, walking a fine line between making just another formula movie and making a GOOD formula movie.
Our hero and villain are played by James Spader and Keanu Reeves, respectively. The setting is Chicago and Spader's a pill-popping burned-out FBI agent with constant flashbacks to his days tracking a serial killer when he lived in Los Angeles. He visits a psychiatrist twice a week to help deal with his guilty conscience of his failure to catch the killer. He's the classic obsessed hero but he's also a hobbled one as we see the mess his life currently is. He can't seem to get his act together and is so strung out on medication it's like he's an escapee from the ICU. His introductory scenes are intercut with surreal flashbacks to that time he almost got the bad guy. It's a good way to keep the film energized but it's a little more than necessary. Spader's character is basically an exaggerated version of Fox Mulder from "The X-Files."
Reeves plays the killer, a man who has a penchant for stalking women without them knowing it and learning their every move and daily routine. He waits for them in their homes and strangles them with piano wire but not after spending some "quality time" with them. We never get a motive or even a clue as to what turned him into the sickie he is. He's a really charming, handsome man who appears to have some money and isn't a drug-addled vagrant or anything. If he's lonely he should just go to a bar because the women would be all over him. Many critics say Reeves and Spader should have switched roles, I agree, it would have been much more effective.
So the film does a fairly good job in establishing an insecure, weak good guy vs. a cocky, vain bad guy. But can it string them through a good story?
For the most part yes, except for the fact that there is barely a story. It's mostly just thriller filler, but it works well. As you may have seen from the commercials and trailers Reeves tells Spader he'll send him a picture of his next victim and he can have 24 hours to find her. Whenever a serial killer gives the authorities an inkling of a clue, especially on purpose, it creates for great tension and "The Watcher" takes advantage of this situation. The second act of the film picks up the pace quickly and keeps the going and going. Kind of like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie but instead of explosions and chase scenes it's police work (hey wait a second, there ARE a few explosions and chase scenes!).
If you're a cop in a city with several million people and you know one of them is going to be killed how to you prevent it from happening? Even with the photograph of the victim and the help of the media and officers handing out flyers all over the city would it still be possible in this day and age for a person to be essentially invisible among thousands of other people? The answer we get here is a clear "yes" and that's what gives "The Watcher" so much energy and intrigue through most of its running time. The teamwork the Ch icago Police and the FBI do to avert this crime is pretty amazing and the film doesn't take shortcuts around the detective work either. How DO you find a needle in a haystack? The killer knows you don't but the hero has to believe you can with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck.
I shouldn't even analyze or discuss the ending. I mean this is a formula serial killer flick, how else can it end?
Is it suspenseful? Sort of. Is justice served? Yes, but it's not as satisfying as you'd think. Is it cheesy? On paper it would be, seeing it on the big screen it's not.
You can take "The Watcher" at face value and enjoy the ride or be more cynical and see it for what it really is. Either way you'll agree it's decent but neither terrible nor terrific.
GRADE: B-
You can also read this review at: http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-4B11-4923A6B-39D29B39-prod1
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*****
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