To Catch a Killer review: Example of how a thriller must not be made

Do not catch this. Just let it go through your hands

Movie: To Catch a Killer

Director: Damián Szifron

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Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson, Richard Zeman

The USP of a good thriller is its ability to ensure one is glued to and engrossed at happenings on the screen. Background score and visual effects add to the substance. The crux, however, belongs to the script. A good script with mediocre visual effects can still be a good thriller. Director Damián Szifron’s To Catch a Killer is a good example of the contrary. It is a good example of how a thriller must not be made.

The plot: it is New Year’s Eve in Baltimore. An unseen sniper shoots and kills 29 people using fireworks as cover. Beat officer Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley), one of the first responding officers to the scene manages to track down as to where the bullets are being fired from. She heads there with her colleagues to catch the person responsible only for the perpetrator to blast the building and escape in the chaos. FBI’s chief investigator Geoffrey Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn) overhears Falco insisting on the gunman/woman being a lone wolf and is impressed with her. He is all about respecting local police personal and Falco becomes Baltimore Police Department’s FBI liaison.

The duo, along with Agent Mackenzie (Jovan Adepo) set out to track the shooter. So far, so good. The top brass of the FBI wants the FBI to be seen making inroads and how they are portrayed in the eyes of the people and not on doing the right thing. They just want arrests made. What follows is the proverbial cat and mouse chase. If the cat fails to catch the mouse, many innocent people die. If the cat kills the mouse, it is portrayed as evil. The cat must catch it but not kill the elusive mouse.
The plot revolves around Falco – how she is a loner, how she failed FBI’s psych profile, how she thinks and how quick she is on her feet. Shailene Woodley is too mechanical as Falco. She fails to emote what Angelina Jolie did in The Bone Collector.

One is but forced to draw parallels. Woodley fails to emote specially in scenes where she heads to her sparse apartment, when she is swimming alone or when she is walking alone. She fails to emote loneliness.

Szifron’s makes a mockery of people’s metal health and Falco goes as far as to say “Medication. That shit works”. It makes one ponder whether it is that simple. Szifron tries to show the negative aspects of mental health and leaves many questions unanswered. He also tries to lay the blame on the bad happenings in the society on politics, the FBI, the alleged snooping, and the military-industrial complex. He just points fingers and does not justify pointing them. The characters are underdeveloped especially the scene where Lammark is having a conversation with his husband Gavin (Michael Cram). It does not make good viewing.

Do not catch this. Just let it go through your hands.