Here’s a jam-packed thriller with gleeful serial killers, hereditary madness, innocence destroyed and Demi Moore. Costner reinvents himself as a psycho with an insistent evil alter ego to great effect.
I think this is his best performance to date! Despite the epics and romances, he may have found his mid life thespian strength because he is a dee-light to watch.
His creepy, pale alter ego William Hurt is evil incarnate. He is Marshall, Brooks’ imaginary backseat driver, literally and figuratively, who prods him into ever escalating mayhem.
There is hilarity to be found here, too, as they giggle together and haw haw the fun of their well-researched murderous projects.
Brooks is in addiction group therapy for his addiction to killing. He never states what his addiction is, and finds it a welcoming and hopeful place. Because he fully intends to give up murder and feels with their help, he can.
Brooks is beset by insecurities, and sometimes cries over his sins. These vulnerabilities are so rarely seen in movie serial killers. He brings originality to a previously tired genre,
Demi Moore as Det Tracey Attwood is on the trial of not one, but two serial killers - the Thumbprint Killer (Brooks) and the Hangman Killer (some other guy). Turns out she is worth $60-million but still pounds the pavement. The only clues to her wealth are the expensive accessories in her apartment. She’s modest and stingy- won’t hand over more than $ 1.5 mil to her slacker ex.
Comic actor Dane Cook plays a wannabee serial killer who has something on Brooks, but is seriously outgunned by his own weakness and stupidity. His ‘study’ nights on the prowl with Brooks have moments of high ironic hilarity.
Mr. Brooks’ college dropout daughter arrives home in the middle of one of his killing sprees, and announces she’s pregnant. Plus someone was just hacked to death in her dorm. She wants in her father’s box making business.
There are sizeable problems in the script, which appear to come out of late changes. Attwood was originally meant to be a worthy opponent for Brooks but that story line is somewhat diluted by her many side stories.
Brooks has only two true opponents – that demanding alter ego whose logical take on murder justifies it – and his own conscience.
But the true horror emerges like a kick to the stomach.
Despite the scripts’ weaknesses, the story is riveting. So many plotlines. Yet so much fun. Jumped out of my seat a couple of times.
One of the great things about Mr. Brooks is that it is a small, dark and fun ride set against the big, expensive and usually insipid sequels we are enduring this summer.
It’s not just for people who went to see Fay Grim instead of Pirates; it’s for folks who don’t mind using their brains in the summertime.
And bravo for Costner’s bold second act.
Mr. Brooks
Opens June 1, 2007. MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity and language.
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