Wonderful character development!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The Bone Collector isn't bad. It's not boring, insulting, stupid, or cynically made. But it's not good, either. It's competent. It's uninspired. Everything about it rises exactly to the level of mere "adequacy". In the wake of Silence of the Lambs, there was a barrage of cat-and-mouse serial killer movies and techno-thrillers. The Bone Collector does nothing to distinguish itself from the glut.Probably the only thing worth commenting on is the cast. I watched this movie after watching Gia and remembering what a brilliant and promising actress Angelina Jolie was at the dawn of her career. (I still like her. But she hasn't been acting much lately.) She does what she can with the role, believably haunted when she needs to be, intelligent and determined throughout. But there's just not much to the character. The same is true for Denzel Washington, unquestionably a great actor but constrained by an underwritten role. The two leads have good chemistry, but it felt more like mentor-mentee chemistry than romantic chemistry. Still, the movie wants us to think they need to fall in love. Michael Rooker, a solid character actor by anyone's measure, is given an entirely one-note character to play, a detective or something who is higher up on the food chain who blocks Lincoln Rhyme at every turn for no better reason than that every techno-thriller needs one of these guys. He decides he doesn't like Angie because early on in the film she stops a train to preserve a crime scene positioned on the subway tracks. No attempt is ever made by the screenwriters to justify his behavior. Luis Guzman is fun in an unspectacular "quirky tech guy" part.There's nothing in The Bone Collector you haven't seen before, but if you're writing a textbook on the cliches of late-90s filmmaking, a viewing of this one will provide all the material you need.

Whilst the bone collector serial killer is not the most thrilling or sophisticated of killers for this type of movie, Washington's character, takes on a fresh and different perspective to the investigation, which is most definitely the draw to this film.

Despite its failure to impress the critics, "The Bone Collector" became a big box office success because of its intriguing plot, its likable characters and the public's continuing fascination with serial killers. Its plot, which was adapted from Jeffery Deaver's novel of the same name, features a cat and mouse game that involves a brilliant forensics expert and a sadistic serial killer who takes pleasure in taunting his pursuers by leaving clues at the scenes of his crimes As these clues provide leads to where and when the next murder will take place, the police find themselves in a constant race against time as they desperately try to discover the identity of the killer and bring his reign of terror to an end before any more people are needlessly killed.Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) is the forensics expert who, during his career with the NYPD, became highly respected for his ability to solve cases by using his exceptional skills. Having been bedridden for four years (since he was crippled by a beam that accidentally fell on him), his depression has grown so deep that he's started to arrange his own "final transition" with the aid of a friend who's agreed to assist with his suicide. Rhyme regularly suffers seizures and his greatest fear is that one of these will leave him in a vegetative state.Although he says that he only has the use of one finger, his shoulders and his brain, he also has some sophisticated computer equipment which he puts to good use in his work. Because of the high esteem in which he's held by the NYPD, he's been kept on the payroll and is regularly asked to help out on their more challenging cases. Just such a case arises when a patrol cop called Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) discovers a dead body buried under gravel beside some train tracks and collects various pieces of evidence that are lying nearby.When the evidence and Amelia are brought to Rhyme's Manhattan apartment, he's very impressed by the young street cop's work and insists that she should help him with his further investigations because she obviously has a natural instinct for forensics work. After overcoming her initial reluctance to pass up on the desk job that she's due to transfer to imminently, Rhyme and Amelia start to work together. Rhyme quickly deduces from the available evidence, the identity of the killer's next victim and the likely location of the murder. Amelia then assists by examining the site and acting as Rhyme's eyes and ears as he gives her instructions through her headset. Rhyme's deductions are proved to be correct and the evidence that Amelia collects at the crime scene, makes it evident that they're dealing with a serial killer and that he's following a set modus operandi. This continues until, chillingly, the evidence found at one of the crime scenes points to Rhyme being the next victim."The Bone Collector" is an entertaining psychological thriller that's particularly enjoyable because of its two main stars and the way in which they work together so well. Denzel Washington overcomes the problem of his character being permanently immobile by the sheer quality of his performance and Angelina Jolie, in her first starring role, makes the changes that Amelia goes through in her work and her relationship with Rhyme seem very natural and convincing. The supporting cast is also good with Luis Guzman providing most of the humour.

The Bone Collector (1999): Dir: Phillip Noyce / Cast: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Micheal Rooker, Queen Latifah, Ed O'Neill: A bag of trash that includes footage of a finger skinned to the bone. Do we really need to see this? He is a taxi driver known as the Bone Collector. Instead of collecting stamps or parking tickets like normal people, he collects bones, and details are not needed as to how he achieves this hobby. Denzel Washington plays a cop shackled to a bed due to an injury that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. Angelina Jolie plays a young policewoman who discovers a hand containing a skinned finger with a wedding ring emerged from the ground. One poor sap is eaten alive by rats. The killer's identity is left to the pointlessly graphic conclusion. Director Phillip Noyce achieves a certain level of tension but locations are drab. He previously made another bullshit film called The Saint. Washington does well in a role that is mainly bed ridden but his climatic survival is pathetically violent. Jolie completes the duo playing off Washington's physical demands while investigating the crime. Then she does the hero rescue scene just in time. Queen Latifah and Micheal Rooker are totally cardboard. Ed O'Neill makes an appearance as a detective but perhaps if he was using his Al Bundy persona then this crap would liven up. The result is total barf bag potential. Score: 2 / 10