The Bone Collector

GenerationofSwine

5/10

1/14/2023

Denzel Washington, he used to be all that didn't he? He single-handedly saved "Malcolm X" from being another Spike Lee disaster flick He played the ultimate and most loathable villain the world has ever seen in "Training Day" and in the process delivered one of the best performances we have ever had the pleasure of watching. And then he settled back to play "the smart cop." In "Fallen" he was the smart cop up against the paranormal. In this film he is the smart cop that is disabled....and from here on he's going to do pretty much the same role over and over and over again. And each one is going to merge into the other leaving us to wonder what happened to that great actor that is hiding behind all those cop roles? For the mystery/thriller genre, it's not bad...but unfortunately, you're left wondering how many great movies you could have seen if he kept picking other roles. The talent is there...and its there itching to come out...unfortunately you have seen Washington play this role far too often to enjoy it. Go back to acting, Denzel, we miss you.

CinemaSerf

6/10

8/28/2023

Denzel Washington really didn't have to get out of bed for his performance here as "Lincoln"; a now-quadriplegic forensics expert who is prone to dangerous seizures. Not wishing to risk surviving one of these in a vegetative state, he has elected for euthanasia. Before he can implement his plan, though, his former colleagues alert him to a series of grisly murders with folks in taxis being hijacked and left to die in the most horrific, sadistic fashion. Intrigued, he hooks up with rookie Angelina Jolie ("Amelia") to try to suss out who's behind these apparently unconnected crimes. It doesn't take them long to discover that their protagonist is leaving clues and when a man and his kid become the latest victims it becomes a race against time to get to them before the tide does. The suspense here is very much in the first fifty minutes, and the performances from Washington and Jolie are strong, but it can't sustain the menace and by midway through has become a rather procedural cop drama with an inevitability about it that really robs it of any real punch at the end.