RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Watcher
The Watcher

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Watcher (2000)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
11 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:85

Fresh:9

Rotten:76

Average Rating:3.4/10

Consensus: The Watcher has Keanu Reeves cast against type, but the movie is short on thrills, suspense, and believability.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) has gone into hiding. Traumatized and beaten down after years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, he is trying to carve a new, less stressful, life... FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) has gone into hiding. Traumatized and beaten down after years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, he is trying to carve a new, less stressful, life for himself in Chicago. But his guilty past follows him. He has only been in Chicago for a few months when there is a rash of gruesome murders, all of which follow a sickeningly familiar pattern: They are undoubtedly the work of one man -- David Allen Griffin (Keanu Reeves).

The cunning and tormenting Griffin prodded and eluded Campbell for years in Los Angeles. And now he has pursued his tracker to Chicago. For Griffin, the vicious, merciless killing of lonely young women has merely become a pretext for a sadistic game of cat and mouse game between himself and Campbell. Before each murder he sends the FBI agent a photograph of his intended victim and dares him to find her before he strikes again.

Each successive killing reminds Campbell of his past failures, dredging up feelings of helplessness and loss that he has been trying to suppress. And for his nemesis Griffin, Campell's exquisite torture becomes his entire reason for killing.

He meticulously stages one final murder, designed to destroy Campbell by confronting him with his guilt-plagued past. And unless Campbell can stop him, he will become the killer's ultimate victim. [More]

Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Robert Cicchini

Starring: Keanu Reeves, James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Robert Cicchini, Chris Ellis, Ernie Hudson, Jenny McShane

Director: Joe Charbanic

Director: Joe Charbanic
Screenwriter: Clay Ayers, Joe Charbanic, David Elliott, Darcy Meyers
Producer: Nile Niami, Patrick Choi

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Watcher

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

You can't buy Keanu as a sadist, but you do worry about the guys who wrote the screenplay.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/25/03
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

The script sucks, the directing sucks, and, as much as I do like him, Keanu sucks.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Ron Wells
Ron Wells
Film Threat
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/02/02
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Peters out like a late-night drunk when its threadbare plot and poorly drawn supporting characters start to stand out like a row of empty shot glasses.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
07/24/01
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

A leaden, somber and suspenseless thriller.

Full Review Source: Movieline | comment Comment
04/17/01
Daniel Papkin
Daniel Papkin
Movieline

The scenario involving a seductive predator obsessed with female loners is not coherent enough to seduce an audience.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
03/24/01
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
03/21/01
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Utiliza el gastado recurso argumental de que tanto el bueno como el malo se necesitan mutuamente para poder existir

Full Review Source: Moviola | comment Comment
03/16/01
Jorge Avila Andrade
Jorge Avila Andrade
Moviola

all the self-consciously hip style in the world isn't enough to compensate for an inert story that has no real destination

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
02/27/01
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
01/01/01
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Joe Charbanic does some good work with the stylized visuals but forgets that if we don't care about the characters we don't care what the scenery around them looks like either.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Keanu's] line readings, aiming for a mixture of suavity and creepiness, just sound silly.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Watcher brings nothing new to the party. It's an uninspired, standard-issue mimeo whose only distinguishing feature is a reversal in its casting.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
TNT's Rough Cut

The same sick story. Even the small touches seem stale.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Andy Seiler
Andy Seiler
USA Today

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
rec.arts.movies.reviews

A hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles. Not many thrills, either.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle

Mind you, it's not a bad serial killer movie. Just routine.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
01/01/00
Brian McTavish
Brian McTavish
Kansas City Star
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
all

Latest News for The Watcher

June 01, 2007: Another "Hercules" Flick?
Anyone out there ever seen the Lou Ferrigno "Hercules" movies? Hilarious stuff. Anyway, Millennium Films is planning to bring the character back to the big screen. Again. More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts
53% 53% David & Layla

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tobey Maguire Talks Brothers, Spider-Man 4 Source: Boston Globe
0
  • Nimród Antal Talks Predators Source: ComingSoon.net
0
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
78
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
128
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
95
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
93
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
86
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
76
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
47
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
26
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
24
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Duncan Jones Reteams With Kevin Spacey
4
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Vampires and Football Break Thanksgiving Records
4
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Watcher at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.