from the previews of this movie, i thought it was going to be a cool murder mystery, sometimes disturbing and creepy like se7en. even the introduction to the film was a rip-off of se7en. the film started off like that, but took a turn for the worst about two thirds into it.

on first appearances, i thought angelina jolie’s character was going to be some sort of psychic or clairvoyant, because all of the cops had it in for her. maybe i just don’t know about the politics behind policing, but wasn’t she just a psychological profiler? i didn’t see anything really wrong with her tactics, save for perhaps the lying in people’s graves part. ethan hawke didn’t manage to make this movie any better; actually, with the exception of reality bites, he manages to make movies shittier. and that sex scene between him and jolie was so gratuitous, it didn’t arouse any sort of carnal desires but, instead, forced me to look away in disgust. the only member of the cast that i liked was olivier martinez. ooh, that french accent… you could tell the french-speaking cops weren’t really french-canadian because they didn’t sound dirty, perverted, or retarded.

the story itself was substandard: substandard mystery, substandard twist, substandard resolution. the coolest parts of taking lives were the beginning, when that boy gets kicked in front of a truck, and when someone gets their head chopped off. the latter seemed out of place and unnecessarily gory, but i thought it was neat. (it was also another rip-off of se7en.) unnecessary violence is always fun! the ending, though, is pure shit.