Movi Review - To Catch a Killer

Director: Damian Szifron
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Drama/ Action
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson
 
Description: Baltimore. New Year’s Eve. A talented but troubled police officer (Shailene Woodley) is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) to help profile and track down a disturbed individual terrorizing the city.

Review: A good cop thriller needs an interesting detective duo with chemistry. A recognizable and atmospherically portrayed setting, be it a small town or the big city. And, of course, an enigmatic killer whose motive and identity are unraveled in the course of the film through good detective work. Precisely on this last point, notwithstanding the title, things go wrong in “To Catch a Killer”.

While this atmospherically shot film does begin promising. On New Year’s Eve, twenty-nine people are shot dead in Baltimore by a sniper. There seems to be no connection between the victims. The FBI is flown in an the case comes under the direction of agent Geoffrey Lammark, exactly the kind of hardboiled detective we know from this type of movie. During the investigation, he scouts local police office Eleanor Falco as his assistant.

Even though Ben Mendelsohn and Shailene Woodley are both amazing performers, together they do not work. They have no chemistry whatsoever and for some reason I never buy Woodley as a cop. At least not the chosen cop to be assisting the FBI on such a huge case.

The film has some boring moments. If the characters were more interesting, the more quiet scenes would have been much more engaging.  The plot suffers from too much randomness and implausible twists and turns. This becomes especially evident in the finale where we learn who the killer is and what motivates him. It turns out to be downright disappointing. I understand why this film never reached Dutch cinemas.

Rating: 2/ 5