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Movies / On DVD / The Watcher
The Watcher

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The Watcher (2000)

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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. [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

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81 - 99 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A shockingly, unbelievably bad movie.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Keanu Reeves may very well be the least convincing, least frightening serial killer in the history of the psycho-thriller genre in The Watcher.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

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.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Robert Horton
Robert Horton
Film.com

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

is stirring, has action, humor, and great dialogue (the Spader character is artfully drawn and portrayed).

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Scott Mantz' Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott A. Mantz
Scott A. Mantz
Scott Mantz' Movie Reviews

An embarrassing hybrid of the worst elements of similar fare.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
01/01/00
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Citysearch

The Watcher left me feeling: tired and dirty and battling a headache.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newhouse News Service

He likes to watch, but you might not.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Murray
Steve Murray
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

It's a mystery why anybody -- the director, the cast -- would want to devote a significant chunk of their lives to this murky tale.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

The real torture is watching it.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
rec.arts.movies.reviews

We can't ignore the lack of anything resembling substance or purpose in The Watcher.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

There is not a single original thought in The Watcher, but as these things go, it's not awful.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Tim Cogshell
Tim Cogshell
Boxoffice Magazine

The Watcher isn’t that hard to watch, but you could find better things to do with your eyes.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

The sledgehammer soundtrack editing is also baffling, considering that Charbanic's background is in music videos.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Vera H-C Chan
Vera H-C Chan
Contra Costa Times

A depressing state of affairs.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
San Francisco Examiner

It's grindingly mediocre, in a way that probably would have sent it straight to video were Reeves' name not on the marquee.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/01/00
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
 
81 - 99 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
all

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