Mr. Brooks -- Movie review
Nov. 18th, 2007 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avanta7Kevin Costner may be the most inconsistent actor/producer/director in Hollywood. Over the years, he's given us, the viewing public, some real stinkers. As a result, I normally avoid Kevin Costner films like the plague. But...for every Waterworld, there's Dances With Wolves, for every Postman, there's Thirteen Days, and for every Bodyguard, there's Mr. Brooks.
Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful and wealthy businessman with a beautiful wife (Marg Helgenberger from CSI), a beautiful daughter (Danielle Panabaker from Shark), and a murderous alter-ego named Marshall (William Hurt). Brooks has kept Marshall quiet the last two years with 12-step meetings and the Serenity Prayer but, on the night Brooks accepts a "Man of the Year" award, Marshall breaks through. And they kill again. This time, however, a witness (Dane Cook) surfaces, bearing photographs, and blackmails Brooks into taking him along on his next kill.
Meanwhile, things are not all peaches and cream at home. The beautiful daughter, Jane, arrives home unexpectedly, announcing (a) she's dropped out of Stanford and (b) she's pregnant. To complicate matters further, the new murder sparks a renewed investigation into these serial killings by police, and Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore) edges closer and closer to the identity of the murderer. She's much "too close to home", as Marshall says.
But plot twists and revelations await and keep us guessing until the final blackout.
The casting of this movie was dead perfect. Costner and Hurt give excellent performances; in small details, they mirror each other to chilling effect. Helgenberger is spot-on as the upscale middle-aged wife and mother Emma, and Panabaker's Jane has hidden depths. Cook is fascinating as Mr. Smith, whose fantasy of murder doesn't quite chime with the reality of Mr. Brooks. And Demi Moore's complicated Atwood proves once more that the woman can actually act.
The movie is rated R and deservedly so: it's graphic and bloody, with explicit sex and language. Definitely not for the kiddies. But after they've gone to bed, it's a fabulously twisted morality tale for adults. Go. Watch it.
Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful and wealthy businessman with a beautiful wife (Marg Helgenberger from CSI), a beautiful daughter (Danielle Panabaker from Shark), and a murderous alter-ego named Marshall (William Hurt). Brooks has kept Marshall quiet the last two years with 12-step meetings and the Serenity Prayer but, on the night Brooks accepts a "Man of the Year" award, Marshall breaks through. And they kill again. This time, however, a witness (Dane Cook) surfaces, bearing photographs, and blackmails Brooks into taking him along on his next kill.
Meanwhile, things are not all peaches and cream at home. The beautiful daughter, Jane, arrives home unexpectedly, announcing (a) she's dropped out of Stanford and (b) she's pregnant. To complicate matters further, the new murder sparks a renewed investigation into these serial killings by police, and Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore) edges closer and closer to the identity of the murderer. She's much "too close to home", as Marshall says.
But plot twists and revelations await and keep us guessing until the final blackout.
The casting of this movie was dead perfect. Costner and Hurt give excellent performances; in small details, they mirror each other to chilling effect. Helgenberger is spot-on as the upscale middle-aged wife and mother Emma, and Panabaker's Jane has hidden depths. Cook is fascinating as Mr. Smith, whose fantasy of murder doesn't quite chime with the reality of Mr. Brooks. And Demi Moore's complicated Atwood proves once more that the woman can actually act.
The movie is rated R and deservedly so: it's graphic and bloody, with explicit sex and language. Definitely not for the kiddies. But after they've gone to bed, it's a fabulously twisted morality tale for adults. Go. Watch it.
