The Watcher is a numbingly familiar exercise in fear, disgorging regular doses of grisly violence buoyed by precious little plot and pitifully thin character development.
The Watcher (2000)
Tomatometer
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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.
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
Reviews for The Watcher
Deciding to see The Watcher is like going to a brand-new restaurant and ordering the hamburger: Sure, it'll be OK, but you know exactly what it's going to taste like, and surely there's something more interesting on the menu.
Following one of the most pitiful title sequences I've ever seen, The Watcher actually proceeds to become one of the most pitiful thrillers I've ever seen.
First-time director Joe Charbanic seems to have watched too many music videos.
The Watcher will have written itself in your head by your third handful of popcorn.
The movie is called The Watcher and, let me tell you, it's something no one should watch. Not this weekend. Not on video. Not in this lifetime.
Comes this close to overcoming its problems and succeeding as a thriller, but doesn't quite make it.
The Watcher is good adventure-thriller fun. Turn your brain off and just enjoy the ride.
A conventional slasher movie that's larded its bloodletting with pretension.
Rarely has a film about a serial killer induced such a calming effect and, at times, one of downright levity, as this dull flick.
To borrow a phrase from another Chicagoan, John Belushi, The Watcher is a 'but nooooo' movie.
Latest News for The Watcher
June 01, 2007:
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