The Bone Collector

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:58 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

The Bone Collector
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Ed O’Neil
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 1999
Kiddie Movie: I think not, although some dad did bring his 10 year old daughter.
Date Movie: She might get scared and snuggle.
Gratuitous Sex: Nothing gratuitous.
Gratuitous Violence: Some gross out scenes.
Action: Some suspense.
Laughs: A line here and there.
Memorable Scene: One of the victims is tied up and the rats start heading towards him.
Memorable Quote: None come to mind.
Directed By: Phillip Noyce

I still can’t quite decide if I liked “The Bone Collector” or not. Sure it had some interesting ways to kill someone. Sure it had some suspense. Sure I jumped a little when the SWAT team’s door flung open. Sure it had one of my newest, favoritist actresses in the likes of Angelina Jolie. But I just didn’t come away with the “Damn that was a good movie” attitude.

Here’s the story. Denzel Washington plays Lincoln Rhyme. He’s stuck in a bed due to a freak accident while investigating a crime scene. He used to be one of the best crime scene detectives out there, but now he just wants to die. Low and behold Angelina as Amelia Donaghy stumbles across a crime scene, uses her wits to preserve the scene before the rain, and gets yelled at for stopping a train. So, the great Ed O’Neil (I miss Married With Children) as Detective Paulie takes the evidence to Lincoln for some insight into the killer, and Lincoln sees a bright spot in Amelia as capable to be a good crime scene investigator. She doesn’t want to, but Lincoln and Paulie pressure her enough so she’s now on her way to a new career.

It turns out the killer is leaving clues for the cops to catch him, or for the cops to blame themselves for not figuring out the clue quick enough, and Lincoln and Amelia are the ones to try to figure out the clues. “Hey, how can Lincoln help if he’s stuck in bed?” Well, Lincoln basically walks Amelia through a crime scene using radio headsets and she brings the clues back to him. But the asshole lead cop, Captain Howard (Michael Rooker), doesn’t like this arrangement and kicks the two off the case. Hey, want some more movie cliches? Well, guess what, the asshole cop turns out to be wrong and Amelia and Lincoln keep investigating even though they are off the case, Amelia and Lincoln have some romantic sparks, and the list goes on.

Alright, the movie had just about every cop/suspense/killer movie cliche there is out there, but it wasn’t too bad except I didn’t buy the sexual tension between Angelina and Denzel at all. The story line wasn’t bad and it led to the obvious conclusion, but I’m thinking you might feel better about seeing “The Bone Collector” if you catch the matinee or wait for video. I will give the movie credit for having some pretty interesting ways for kill people, especially the movie maneuver of knowing exactly how the person was going to be killed yet you’re sitting in your seat going, squirming, because you know exactly what is going to happen.

So, enough rambling. It’s 2 ½ stars out of 5 for “The Bone Collector.” Denzel did a good acting job considering he didn’t have to move much and Angelina did fine as the “not wanting to really do this job” cop, all except the love angle versus the friend angle. Oh well.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!