A shockingly, unbelievably bad movie.
The Watcher (2000)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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
Keanu Reeves may very well be the least convincing, least frightening serial killer in the history of the psycho-thriller genre in The Watcher.
The thinking is, if faced with a dead sequence in the editing room, flood it with light, or break it up with jump cuts, or leech the color out, or blur the image in some arty way. Whatever. It still looks dead.
Reeves, as the killer, has the fairly thankless task of saying only what the movie needs him to say; he's limited by the fact that his killer has no real dimension or personality apart from his function as a plot device.
is stirring, has action, humor, and great dialogue (the Spader character is artfully drawn and portrayed).
Watching actors who look like they might fall asleep at any moment can be rather sleep-inducing for an audience. Of course, the movie is frequently so ridiculous that your own laughter may keep you awake.
It's a mystery why anybody -- the director, the cast -- would want to devote a significant chunk of their lives to this murky tale.
We can't ignore the lack of anything resembling substance or purpose in The Watcher.
There is not a single original thought in The Watcher, but as these things go, it's not awful.
The Watcher isn’t that hard to watch, but you could find better things to do with your eyes.
The sledgehammer soundtrack editing is also baffling, considering that Charbanic's background is in music videos.
It's grindingly mediocre, in a way that probably would have sent it straight to video were Reeves' name not on the marquee.
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...
More DVDs
| 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… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- The Watcher at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

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

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



Top Critic

