THE WATCHER
Rated R - Running Time: 1:33 - Released 9/8/00
I first saw Keanu Reeves in 1989, when he was very believable
in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Parenthood,
the two films he did that year. This could be because he was playing
a valley-talking teenager in both movies. Later, he achieved widespread
critical acclaim as a cool-headed cop in Speed. Lately,
however, Keanu has been suffering a slump, turning in unconvincing
performances in a plethora of roles, including a devil-plagued
attorney in The Devil's Advocate
(1997), a computer geek turned action hero in The
Matrix (1998), and a substitute football player in The Replacements (currently in
theatres). Joe Charbanic's directorial debut The Watcher,
however, which stars Reeves as a serial killer who enjoys eluding
the cops even more than he loves applying piano wire to the necks
of his female victims, plumbs the depths of Keanu's inability
to convince.
Reeves plays traveling psychopath David Allen Griffin, who,
according to the screenplay by David Elliot and Clay Ayers (based
on the story by Elliot and Darcy Meyers), is originally from L.A.
but he loves the cat-and mouse game he has established with FBI
agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) so much that he follows him
to Chicago when Campbell moves there. Campbell has retired from
the force and begun therapy with a psychiatrist (Marisa Tomei)
who is helping him through some issues including but not limited
to his involvement with Griffin. However, when the killer shows
up again, Campbell knows he is the only one who can deal with
the situation. He must join up with the local agents (Chris Ellis,
Robert Cicchini) and use his knowledge of Griffin's methods to
avoid another killing spree.
Like the killer in The Bone
Collector, Griffin is an expert at forensics and knows
how to commit his crimes without leaving a shred of evidence,
but intentionally gives Campbell clues as to the identity of his
next victim. However, Griffin's method is more simple than that
of the Bone Collector killer: rather than leaving a bunch
of stuff at the scene for Campbell to figure out, he simply sends
him a picture of his current target. The fact that he is able
to get photos of his victims, while they're still alive and smiling,
shows that he is a "watcher," one who learns every minute
detail about the life of his prey before he snuffs it out. He
learns her schedules, the places she goes, the people she knows,
etc. The challenge is for Campbell and his associates to find
the girl before Griffin does the deed. But when "the watcher"
targets the beautiful Dr. Tomei, the pressure is really on.
The inadequacies of Keanu Reeves hamstring this film for the
most part, although more credible performances by Spader, Tomei,
and the rest of the cast help a great deal. It's hard to know
whether to laugh or groan at Reeves's reading of his creepy character,
but neither of those reactions are the desired result. I don't
know if Spader is acting tired or whether he really is
tired, but his performances has a subtle tension to it despite
the dead look in his eyes. Tomei, who has precious little screen
time, uses it well. This is not a bad debut for director Charbanic,
who keeps the tension going well in what amounts to three separate
acts, with flashbacks of Campbell's L.A. days and several chase
scenes with and without wheels. There are numerous minor continuity
errors, like people not being wet after emerging from a canal,
but generally all the points of the emotional scale are reached.
But then there's Keanu.
Sorry about that. ***½