REVIEW: Suspect Zero is Worthless

By Wind(up)bird August 27, 2004 10:04 AM

Suspect Zero" is a postmodern serial-killer thriller. And it's so drenched in deviant style and cinematic trickery that its peculiar story -- a psychological mystery where a killer wreaking mysterious havoc is apparently pursued by an obsessed FBI agent -- almost becomes overwhelmed. By Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Maybe that's not a bad thing. Maybe the movie should be overwhelmed by its own style. The script isn't really good enough to worry about whether it's being over-directed. In fact, the over-direction of E. Elias Merhige is one of the best things about this movie, along with Ben Kingsley's grimly unstoppable killer-of-killers, Benjamin O'Ryan. As we watch O'Ryan at his murderous work or taunting on-the-edge FBI agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart), a certain grim inevitability begins to set in.

"Suspect Zero" was written by Zak Penn ("X-Men 2") and Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass"), and you can almost tell that the writing is by people who've triumphed in the pro movie world, while the direction is by an outsider. It's predictable but out of joint -- a menage of psycho murder sprees and psychic second-sight visions, taking place on highways under the boiling New Mexico sun, in disheveled houses and a barren FBI office. Almost every character is crazy, institutionalized, a killer or a cop -- some falling into more than one category.

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