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Suspect Zero

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Horror | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Zak Penn (also story)
Billy Ray
Directed by: E. Elias Merhige
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 27, 2004
DVD: April 12, 2005
Running Time: 110 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for violent content, language and some nudity
Starring Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harry J. Lennix, Kevin Chamberlin, Julian Reyes, Keith Campbell, and Chloe Russell
A thriller about an FBI agent tracking down a serial killer who targets serial killers.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Shadow of the Vampire
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Merhige understands how exciting going to the edge of credibility can be without falling off, and he has the bravura talent and imagination needed to pull off the sheer, hurtling audacity of Suspect Zero.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
With its spooky atmosphere to spare and a riveting central performance by Kingsley, an actor who manages to elicit both terror and sympathy, I was able to forget all those things, basking in the pleasure of my own goose bumps. So, for an hour and a half, will you.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The script isn't really good enough to worry about whether it's being over-directed; in fact, E. Elias Merhige's over-direction is one of the best things about this movie--along with Ben Kingsley's grimly unstoppable killer-of-killers, Benjamin O'Ryan.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The trouble is that the plot is so elliptical to be almost unfollowable (though it helps to have seen the trailer).
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Suspect Zero has enough going for it to eventually develop a cult following. But compared to "Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven," it's still the minor leagues.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Jim Fusilli
Directed by E. Elias Merhige, the film is never less than entertaining, but Sir Ben's portrayal of a sympathetic psychopath gives it a special zing.
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
A novel twist in the second half succeeds in distinguishing this from the pack but also wrenches it away from the meager characters.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Merhige is too talented to be dismissed as a wannabe, but here his gifts for clever angles and oogy feelings are tethered to blasé genre redundancies and clunky storytelling. Looks great, less thrilling. I blame the screenwriters.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The truth is, the freakiness kinda turns the director on, and he nearly strangles Suspect Zero with love.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Kingsley gets the film's one big emotional scene and makes it count.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Ultimately the story of someone who preys on other serial killers, but can't seem to come up with an original way in which to do it.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Fails to provide one essential ingredient: suspense.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer
It's merely adequate, with one riveting element but limited chills.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Eckhart, who gets more rugged by the picture, certainly works hard to bring the audience along. But he's a nervous wreck for nothing. This movie isn't talking to us, it's talking to other serial killer movies.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There's a point at which its enigmatic flashes of incomprehensible action grow annoying, and a point at which we realize that there's no use paying close attention, because we won't be able to figure out the film's secrets until they're explained to us.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
When, in its eventful final act, Merhige finally reveals what this thing is REALLY all about, it comes not with any blissful storytelling satisfaction but a grinding sense that this strange movie is a structural mess.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Given nothing to do, Carrie-Anne Moss looks on from the sidelines as the film halfheartedly toys with the tired old notion that only a thin line separates the dogged investigator and the compulsive killer. She looks bored, and she should.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
A plodding and familiar "cop sees what the killer sees" riff that plays like a poorly inflated "The X-Files" episode.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
The clichéd and predictable Suspect Zero is the latest evidence that Hollywood has run the serial-killer thriller into the ground through overuse - the same way it earlier exhausted, say, buddy action-comedies.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The movie's premise is as dopey as they come: A serial killer with a conscience is killing other serial killers.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ethan Alter
It's not easy to make a thriller that's both incredibly convoluted and intensely boring, but director E. Elias Merhige scores on both counts with this lame excuse for a spooky crime story.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Jeremy Knox
The movie contains not one surprise, not one shock, not one scare, not one bit of interest for any moviegoer over the age of ten (mentally or physically).
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Suspect Zero is loaded with cheap thrills for the expensively educated.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
None of the principals is remotely likable--although Kingsley does appear to enjoy swanning around the great Southwest like a low-rent Anthony Hopkins.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Among the lamest serial-killer movies ever made.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Preposterous, physically hideous paranormal thriller.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Finally, a serial-killer movie so preposterous, so garnished with accidental laugh lines and absent essential narrative logic it may actually put a permanent kibosh on this tediously overworked crime subgenre. Here's hoping, at any rate.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Instead of building suspense and tension, Suspect Zero devotes its efforts to creating a weird and creepy milieu that will leave fans of police procedurals wanting and avant-garde enthusiasts scratching their heads.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A grisly, depraved and wholly uninvolving exercise in empty mannerism.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Amar T gave it an8:
I dunno abt all the -ve reviews, but i thought this was an interesting flick.
richard m. gave it a7:
Wife and I had read other user reviews as well as the critics before viewing and expected to be disappointed. No way! It was slow to grab us but it did and then some. Unusual, spooky and definitely worth watching.
Greg gave it a6:
Ben Kingsley - yes. This movie - no.
Rick M gave it an8:
Good movie. Well filmed. Intriguing story line.
Ronald T gave it an8:
Not a total waste of time. More like an independently written episode of the X-files, complete with government conspiracy and a sci-fi twist.
Les B. gave it an8:
Actually I thought it was pretty good.
Michael M. gave it a 5:
Hard to follow thriller, that barely keeps you awake through the entirety of the film. Aaron Eckhard does an okay job as the smart police detective, but Carrie-Anne Moss does the same character she played in The Matrix. The real highlight is Ben Kingsley's extraordinary performance (as usual) -- but he isn't featured throughout the movie. The feature tries to be too much like 1995's masterpiece "Se7en". But it's not. The only eye-opening scene in the whole movie, is the ending showdown between Kingsley's crazed serial killer and Eckhart's haunted detective, that surprisingly packs a pretty strong emotional punch. When all is said in down, it's safe to skip it in the theaters and wait for DVD.
