I’m not particularly interested in crime movies or shows but this week, for some inexplicable reason, most of my TV/movie viewing has centered around the theme of serial killers.
It all began on Sunday with the latest episode of Dexter. When a friend told me about this show I was initially skeptical. Yet another crime show where…let me guess…a different scumbag criminal gets caught every week and the world is clearly divided between ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. Boy, was I wrong.
The show focuses on Dexter who is a blood spatter analyst working for the Miami PD. The twist is that he is also a serial killer. The show balances the tensions between making the character likable while at the same time, reminding you that ‘Hey, this guy kills people and cuts them up into tiny pieces.’ It’s a credit to the writers that they are able to pull it off so well.
Next up was the movie Zodiac which is about the killer of the same name who was active in California during the late ’60s and early ’70s. It might be more appropriate to say that the movie is about Robert Graysmith’s research and writing of a book about the killer. As such, this is one time where reading the book before seeing the movie will actually make the film better (the two works are complementary rather than covering the exact same events). I really enjoyed the book and the movie was quite good as well.
Finally, I saw Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner. While not a perfect movie (the female roles were particularly weak) the film contained enough interesting ideas and a good performance by William Hurt that it was worthwhile to see. It was one of those movies that had the potential to be a great movie with a bit more work.
