Woodley proves herself to be one of the most interesting actors of late with yet another solid performance.
To Catch a Killer opens in Baltimore on New Year’s Eve. As celebratory fireworks ring in the new year, a sniper uses the noise to mask a mass shooting. 29 seemingly random people are gunned down for no apparent reason. The only common thread is the almost inhuman accuracy of each shot.
Officer Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley,) a beat cop, catches the attention of FBI Special Agent Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn) with her quick thinking and interesting theory about the possible motivation of the shooter. He appoints her as a special liaison between the Baltimore Police Department and the FBI. She will work with him and fellow FBI Agent James “Mack” McKenzie (Jovan Adepo) as a team. Lammark hopes Falco’s unconventional thinking will help the Bureau crack the case much faster than traditional procedure. Speed is of the essence as politics plays almost as big a role in an investigation as detective work. And politicians are breathing down Lammark’s neck to solve the case with the same intensity as they’re stymieing his attempts to limit public endangerment for fear of inciting panic.
Despite a title that reeks of an Oxygen true-crime documentary, To Catch a Killer takes many cues from films like The Silence of the Lambs and The Bone Collector. It’s not exactly original but the premise is interesting and the characters aren’t the usual cardboard cutouts that lesser police procedurals dole out to push the story along. The story, co-written by director Damián Szifron and Jonathan Wakeham, has an agenda of sorts. It’s not subtle about pointing fingers at the news and entertainment media — and more often than not they are the same — for capitalizing on violence for ratings and clicks. But it also shows that there are layers of police work geared to the camera as well.
Woodley, Mendelsohn, and Adepo work well on-screen together. Woodley and Mendelsohn share an especially curious dynamic. Woodley proves herself to be one of the most interesting actors of late with yet another solid performance. Along with recently viewed outings like White Bird in a Blizzard and Adrift, she shows that she can carry a film even when the writing isn’t always top-notch. Here she benefits from a stronger script either of those two movies.
Despite some occasionally odd camera work, director Szifron and cinematographer Javier Julia serve up a number of memorable shots. The opening sequence sets the mood of the film brilliantly and immediately grabs the viewer by the collar. The pacing remains consistently tense from beginning to end.
While it might not be as cerebral as it wants to appear, To Catch a Killer weaves a somewhat misanthropic story into a very watchable thriller.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
