A lifeless piece of work that sits there on the screen and doesn't even take the most tentative steps to engage the viewer.
Suspect Zero (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:22
Rotten:105
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Other than Ben Kingsley, there's not much to like in this preposterous thriller.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: It's 4 AM and torrents of rain pour down on a dusty roadside New Mexico diner. Inside, an innocuous looking salesman sips coffee while catching up on his fishing magazines. After the front door... It's 4 AM and torrents of rain pour down on a dusty roadside New Mexico diner. Inside, an innocuous looking salesman sips coffee while catching up on his fishing magazines. After the front door creaks open, an unusual looking man startles the salesman by sitting down at his table and displaying frightening drawings that send the salesman fleeing for the safety of his car. We meet Agent Thomas Mackelway on his first day of work at the Albuquerque field office of the FBI. Mackelway, wrestling with secrets and demons from his past, is plagues by headaches and feels that he is being watched. And in fact he is... but by whom? Mackelway finds himself mysteriously drawn into a bizarre series of murders: the salesman from the diner found dead in his car on the deserted New Mexico border; a sixth grade teacher from Boulder, Co. discovered in an abandoned vehicle in the diner parking lot; and Mackelay's own personal nemesis, killed while attacking a young girl. Mackelway's former partner, Fran Kulok, who knows Mackelway's deepest secrets, is sent to Albuquerque to assist him on the case. Together, they set out to solve this lethal puzzle. What do these murders have in common? The case becomes increasingly personal as Mackelway's determination turns to obsession. The killer seems to be taunting him, faxing him hundreds of maddening, chilling clues, all of which point to a cunning renegade named Benjamin O'Ryan. Trained in a secret government remote viewing program which enabled five elite agents to get into the hearts and minds of killers and their victims, O'Ryan became consumed with tracking the ultimate manifestation of a killer -- Suspect Zero. -- © Paramount Pictures [More]
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harry J. Lennix
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harry J. Lennix
Director: E. Elias Merhige
Director: E. Elias Merhige
Screenwriter: Billy Ray, Zak Penn
Producer: Paula Wagner
Composer: Clint Marsell
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero won't hold up particularly well on repeated viewings. But, for now, it's a decent scary movie to ease us into fall.
What starts out as a crafty spin on the serial killer subgenre submits to overheated convention.
Requires more explanation than a director can possibly provide, even if Merhige was willing to continue his unusual strategy by appearing at a theater near you.
I don't believe the message, least of all as Merhige obsessively paints it, in a rain-drenched genre study in which every character is photographed on a tilt, or in extreme close-up.
Sir Ben Kingsley’s good at chewing up the scenery, but even Kingsley can’t seem to find the right take on his character.
It never builds characters to care about or a story that gets much better than its tricky, paranormal premise.
It's so drenched in deviant style and cinematic trickery that its peculiar story almost becomes overwhelmed.
Aptly titled: zero thrills, zero sense, zero chance...a serial killer movie that's substandard despite one's low expectations of the genre.
very few people will have the patience to wade through the conventional to reach the lone twist that sets Zero apart from its competition
[The film] needs more explanation than the director can possibly provide, even if he were to go to every theater in every city and explain its intricacies before every show.
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