Featured Audience Ratings

• Emil K

  
  Extremely stylish and unique thriller that held my attention from the spectacular opening till the very last twisty moments of suspense. Taking Lives was a very welcome surprise when i i first saw it. It has a stunning cast, very impressive production team behind it, Philip Glass as… More
  Extremely stylish and unique thriller that held my attention from the spectacular opening till the very last twisty moments of suspense. Taking Lives was a very welcome surprise when i i first saw it. It has a stunning cast, very impressive production team behind it, Philip Glass as composer and most of all it has visually original style that is too often absent in these kind of thrillers. While Jon Bokenkamp's screenplay does not entirely come without its flaws, it still does not lose its strenght to hold your attention. It is true that there is possibly couple of cliches too many in the story and some of them could have been dropped out, but when Bokenkamp's script is in a trouble to collapse director D.J. Caruso makes it up with his visual capability. What striked me the most here was all those nice touches of vintage Hitchcock which came in the form of cinematography and Philip Glass' fantastic score mostly. Caruso and his cinematographer Amir Mokri paints fantastic images with their camera and they even make a cliched car chase seem something fresh and new with their approach. Taking Lives also has an breathtaking pace as a film. When it begins it never loses it's focus or power to keep us second guessing. Some could say that Taking Lives aims too much for the entertainment, but obviously, was it never intended to be nothing else than a well crafted entertainment? I most certainly can see that this is entertainment by all means but there is also some fantastic artistic touches in it too. Taking Lives resembles at times Brian De Palma's work which also has rare strenght to be entertaining and artistically ambitious work at the same time. Caruso is no De Palma but he has a great director inside him if he just lets it out. I earlier mentioned the cast, which is simply outstanding, and Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Gena Rowlands, Tcheky Karyo and Kiefer Sutherland are all solid here. I especially enjoyed Hawke's meaty turn as a film's most complex character. Hawke is a great actor and this is one of his best performances by far. I also must give credit for Paul Dano who succeeds in making a lasting impression in a extremely disturbing little role. Overall Taking Lives is a kinda film i often enjoy when it is made with great care and skill. It has style, it has artistic value, great cast, Hitcockian tones and screenplay that is good enogh to bring something fresh into the palette. This is highly overlooked and underrated film which deserves to be seen much more than it has been in a past years.

• Red L

  
  There are times knowing the schedule is detrimental to watching the movie. The movie sort of ended - they had the bad guy, but there was still 20 minutes left in the time slot! Sure enough the cops had it wrong, and Angelina Jolie had to save the day.

• Albert K

  
  Angelina Jolie strips for like no reason. horrible movie.

• Dean !

  
  A decent enough thriller if nothing new, or groundbreaking. Doesn't deserve the slating it has got from some though?? I enjoy thrillers and the tracking of a serial killer type. It has a few jumpy moments, although the plot is a bit predictable. Still enjoyable to watch.

• Wildaly M

  
  I was confused about the whole film and then the end confused me even more.

• Conner R

  
  Not the best crime/thriller ever, but had it come out about a decade beforehand it would have gotten a lot more positive responses. It's a really interesting story with great characters. Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke clearly gave the movie a more polished look and really made it… More
  Not the best crime/thriller ever, but had it come out about a decade beforehand it would have gotten a lot more positive responses. It's a really interesting story with great characters. Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke clearly gave the movie a more polished look and really made it charming as well as suspenseful. I really admired the movie for keeping you on your toes.

• Summer W

  
  I think they tried to be shocking, but they couldn't have been more predictable.

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"He would kill to be you."</i> An FBI profiler is called in by French Canadian police to catch a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim. <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"He would kill to be you."</i> An FBI profiler is called in by French Canadian police to catch a serial killer who takes on the identity of each new victim. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> There's nothing particularly bad about Taking Lives - at least if there was a cement mixer somewhere to fill in the plot holes. In many ways it's an above average thriller about a serial killer being hunted by lovely FBI agent Angelina Jolie, who manages to be far more alluring than any FBI agent has the right to be. There's several shocks worthy of making you jump out of your seat, a generous and tasty smattering of gruesome body parts, a car chase, explosion and some nudity. It's main flaw perhaps is that it goes on far too long, and our suspension of disbelief is teetering too precariously for comfort. The basic premise is that the serial killer escapes detection by taking on the identity of his victims. We get some very brief overview shots suggesting how he maybe achieves this from a technical point of view, but when the expected twist at the end outstays its welcome in a very extended coda involving Jolie saving the day by 'dazzling insight' into the killer's mind that soon looks too much like a writer's fantasy: it is then that we start asking ourselves if the main plot was actually believable. Entertaining enough if your expectations aren't too high, but one does wonder when Angelina Jolie is going to take on roles worthy of her not inconsiderable acting ability after this.

• Coxxie M

  
  i could see the ending coming even before i could see Kiefer Sutherlands gonna be bald in 6 years.

• Film C

  
  i like this movie its got a great storyline well acted and twists and turns with a fantastic ending and really worth a watch as its nothing you would expect really worth a watch

• Josh L

  
  Needed a recasting I think. Jolie was fine, but Sutherland was massively underused and could have easily done a better job than Ethan Hawke. To say more would give the plot away. The movie is a retread and not original in hardly any ways, but the ending came as a surprise to me so it… More
  Needed a recasting I think. Jolie was fine, but Sutherland was massively underused and could have easily done a better job than Ethan Hawke. To say more would give the plot away. The movie is a retread and not original in hardly any ways, but the ending came as a surprise to me so it gets points for that. Otherwise, its the same stuff you have seen before, over and over again. It had potential if, like I said, the actors were switched or possibly replaced.

• Dan S

  
  Not dark enough nor original enough to make it worth a look. Hawke is superb in a movie that relies solely on a big twist ending (that fails gigantically), ruining a slam-bang of an opening that proved it had potential to be good, but its one-dimensional characters and tenseless plot… More
  Not dark enough nor original enough to make it worth a look. Hawke is superb in a movie that relies solely on a big twist ending (that fails gigantically), ruining a slam-bang of an opening that proved it had potential to be good, but its one-dimensional characters and tenseless plot take a big toll.

• Sanjaya &

  
  Actually, it's been a pretty good story... A story about serial murder that been happening and the murderer been using the victim identity for his own pleasure... Angelina Jolie shows great acting in here, she's really charming even becomes an FBI agent this time... The… More
  Actually, it's been a pretty good story... A story about serial murder that been happening and the murderer been using the victim identity for his own pleasure... Angelina Jolie shows great acting in here, she's really charming even becomes an FBI agent this time... The weakest point of the story maybe comes from Ethan Hawke... Since the first time he appears, I know that he's the murderer... He's trying to put a good performance so that people can't guess that he's the real murder but what happens is that didn't work... Maybe he still have the innocent face, but that didn't strong enough... I know that is a hard character to play and he's giving his best, but that doesn't really enough... Too bad Kiefer Sutherland only appears a little in this movie, and trying to put him as the bad guy in this movie didn't really work at all.. Actually, I've been a little surprised with the ending that the murderer escaped... But it still thrills me in the end... Pretty good movie to watch...

• Lady D

  
  Not a bad serial killer movie, certainly a unique story and one I've watched many times.

• Jason S

  
  This was a pretty boring movie. There wasn't a whole lot of suspense going on with this one and I pretty much knew who the killer was right off the bat. The premise was good and it could have been done well but the pacing was slow and the characters were not fleshed out enough… More
  This was a pretty boring movie. There wasn't a whole lot of suspense going on with this one and I pretty much knew who the killer was right off the bat. The premise was good and it could have been done well but the pacing was slow and the characters were not fleshed out enough for me to care about. Bone Collector is far superior to this flick.

• Dean L

  
  This movie was incredibly predictable and transparent. Anyone who is even a semi-fan of the genre will be able to see through every attempted twist from beginning to end including the identity of the killer. In addition, the ending seemed like a rushed wrap up job. The ending made… More
  This movie was incredibly predictable and transparent. Anyone who is even a semi-fan of the genre will be able to see through every attempted twist from beginning to end including the identity of the killer. In addition, the ending seemed like a rushed wrap up job. The ending made little sense (as did many of agent Scott?s actions) and appeared to be a quick way out. This could be part and parcel of the wholly linear way the film was written and depicted. I have seen this compared to the magnificent film, ?Silence of the Lambs.? It is in no way like ?Silence of the Lambs? save for the fact that a female FBI agent is portrayed and there is a serial killer. Also, the performances are lackluster. The intensity is just not there for this to be a taut thriller. So as not to spoil I will not mention names, but it was nice to see some familiar faces in the film that were unexpected for me yet under-utilized. All this having been said?I was entertained. I could have waited for cable, but it was a fine diversion. It is better than some of the tripe that Hollywood has tried to thrust upon this flavor of film. If you are looking for something that is going to really strike fear in your heart though?this movie just does not do it.

• Dean M

  
  Great formula serial thriller with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke about the FBI agent gets up close and personal with intelligent psycho's variety.

• Steve K

  
  Laugh out loud unintentionally funny. Also, let's be honest - hot sex scenes with Jolie.

• Al S

  
  not a very genious thriller.at times entertaining but at all times not so surprising

• James A

  
  Well Ethan Kawke does work her.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings