The Watcher
Here's another serial-killer flick that's long on style and short on substance.
And unlike The Cell, this so-called thriller from director Joe Charbanic
(the videographer of star Keanu Reeves's band Dogstar) doesn't even have any
resonating flair.
The ever-dutiful James Spader plays Campbell, a barbiturate-popping FBI agent
from LA on mental leave in Chicago. His long-time nemesis (Reeves doing the
madman bit with tongue-and-cheek irreverence) follows him to his new place of
residence and starts garroting lonely dames in the hope of getting his old pal
back into the game. Marisa Tomei is shoehorned into the cop-and-killer
concoction as Campbell's shrink and the killer's ultimate intended victim. As
the title suggests, the maniac's MO is watches his victims for a period of time
before making his move, but the story never explains what caused the psychopath
to became so unhinged. And though Reeves and Spader do strike some moments of
kitschy good camp, there's never any suspense. Charbanic's still-shot,
slow-motion sequences register as amateurish and tedious, and the all-too-hip
soundtrack is hacked in with disarray. At the Hoyts Providence Place 16,
Narragansett, Opera House, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.
-- Tom Meek