The Killer Inside Me

Viewer Rating:Cyberx_94 has rated The Killer Inside Me rating: 2 Star

The killer inside me


An adaptation of the 1950s novel, Michael Winterbottom's crime thriller stars Casey Affleck as a misogynistic police officer who discovers he enjoys hurting women when he investigates a prostitute , played by Jessica Alba.
The movie is two hours long.


If there was ever a film I could find as drawn out as Schindlers list , despite being an hour shorter it would be this , thankfully this isn't nearly as self indulgent as that film.
With the comparisons to the Coen brothers and the trailer I saw, along with having watched the excellent Fargo immediately before it I felt I was ready for an enjoyable two hours. Unfortunately this Coen film, without the Coen brothers could have been saved if they had actually directed it. Winterbottom could have created an effective clone but a slew of pacing issues and mundane, monotonous, meandering filmmaking prevent this movie from becoming the compelling psychological thriller it so very much wants to be. The shock value is exactly that but with the controversy it apparently was said to have caused it doesn't impact as well as it could have.
I have never been much of an Alba fan, she's limited to the pretty girl role and that's it and this felt like an excuse to show herself off more frequently than necessary. I did not care for the sexual aspects of the movie at all. Affleck seems like he could be a good actor, I'm not too familiar with him but he sounds bored, bland and sometimes unclear in parts of the movie. It just isn't convincing. Perhaps I got too excited after seeing the trailer and got my hopes up high but I can't really recommend this one with confidence to many even those who liked the approach of no country for old men (as I did) may struggle to remain attentive here.
It is very rare I pull out of a film when watching but this was one of those occasions.
I felt that there was a loss of atmosphere in this movie and understand it is a remake of an earlier 70s film. Maybe I would be better off with the original as given my love of cinema from that era I can often hard on retellings of them. Then again This might not be a valid excuse when films like the mothman prophecies which is based on a 70s novel retains a 70s era feel in the film adaptation.

Verdict: **

Review published on the 12 September 2010 22:09