Barnes & Noble

Reminiscent of such intense thrillers as The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, this stylish nail-biter provides top-billed Angelina Jolie with yet another eccentric role to add to her impressive gallery of colorful characters. She plays Illeana Scott, a humorless FBI profiler with nearly preternatural abilities. Working with French-Canadian detectives (Tcheky Karyo and Olivier Martinez) investigating a bizarre murder in Montreal, Scott uncovers evidence suggesting the culprit is a serial killer who adopts the identities of his victims. Her best lead is a young man (Ethan Hawke) who claims to have witnessed the murder and now fears he’s targeted for death. The cat-and-mouse aspect of this blood-chilling film is extremely well handled by director D. J. Caruso (The Salton Sea), who relies on his actors to carry the script over several bumpy patches. There is, per usual, a strong “red herring” character and a Big Twist, but in other respects Caruso’s film avoids cliché. Like many movies of its type, Taking Lives won’t stand up under careful scrutiny or post-screening analysis, but it’s extremely well acted by a superb cast and maintains an eerie atmosphere throughout. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A female detective on the trail of a psychotic killer discovers love in a dangerous time in this thriller, based on the novel by Michael Pye. Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is a special agent with the FBI who has a reputation for using offbeat methods, but also boasts a strong record as a criminal profiler. Scott is called in by a former Quantico colleague (Tcheky Karyo) to assist two Canadian police detectives, Paquette (Olivier Martinez) and Duval (Jean-Hugues Anglade), who are on the trail of a serial killer who has been doing business in and around Montreal for close to two decades. The murderer has a history of assimilating many aspects of the lives of his victims after he kills them, but there's been a witness to his most recent crime. Art gallery owner James Costa (Ethan Hawke) saw the killer during an assault, and now finds himself working as an only marginally willing decoy for Scott. As Scott and Costa follow the killer's trail, they find themselves becoming attracted to one another, which is not necessarily a comfort to Scott as she finds her quarry moving closer and closer. Taking Lives also stars Kiefer Sutherland and Gena Rowlands. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 085391136941
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Uncensored, Dubbed
• Time: 1:49:00
• Sales Rank: 28,992

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