The most surprising thing about The Bone Collector is not the identity of the titular serial killer (the answer to that question is as ridiculous as they come) but rather the appearance of Denzel Washington as the paralyzed hero. That an actor as good as he would take on dime-store pulp that barely registers as third-rate Silence of the Lambs leads one to believe that despite the "challenge" of playing a quadriplegic, a substantial paycheck might have had a hand in the decision-making process. It couldn't have been the material, which is littered with every illogical, implausible, impossible and unforgivable suspense-thriller cliche that has ever offended at the multiplex. Angelina Jolie, who looks like anything but a beat cop (as if anticipating our skepticism, the movie breathlessly explains that she was a "child model" before she answered the call of law enforcement), acts well enough to assuage our substantial doubts. But her verisimilitude is too little, too late as the ordinary plot chugs along its predictable path until depositing the wearied audience at the foot of a howlingly awful conclusion.
Review of The Bone Collector
The Bone Collector
(1999)
Material unworthy of actors in run-of-the-mill serial killer flick
2 February 2000