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97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
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Beer for My Horses
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Boy A
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48
Death Defying Acts
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Edge of Heaven, The
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Elite Squad
80
Encounters at the End of the World
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Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
54
Get Smart
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
34
Happening, The
25
Hell Ride
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
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Incredible Hulk, The
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
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Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
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Kiss the Bride
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Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
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Kung Fu Panda
52
Milarepa
62
Mister Foe
53
Mister Lonely
74
Mongol
61
On the Rumba River
83
Paranoid Park
32
Perfect Holiday, The
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
63
Planet B-Boy
72
Priceless
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
70
Standard Operating Procedure
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
57
Stone Angel, The
47
Strangers, The
61
Stuck
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
63
This Christmas
71
To the Limit
72
Transsiberian
71
Tropic Thunder
79
Visitor, The
93
WALL-E
37
War, Inc.
xx
Whaledreamers
54
What We Do Is Secret
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
39
Young People F**king
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
93
WALL-E
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Paranoid Park
80
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Kung Fu Panda
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Priceless
72
Transsiberian
71
To the Limit
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Standard Operating Procedure
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
63
Planet B-Boy
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
63
This Christmas
62
Mister Foe
61
Stuck
61
On the Rumba River
61
Incredible Hulk, The
57
Stone Angel, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
54
What We Do Is Secret
53
Mister Lonely
52
Milarepa
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Strangers, The
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Henry Poole is Here
39
Young People F**king
37
War, Inc.
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
34
Happening, The
33
Elite Squad
32
Perfect Holiday, The
25
Hell Ride
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Beer for My Horses
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Taking Lives
Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence including disturbing images, language and some sexuality
Starring
Angelina Jolie,
Ethan Hawke,
Kiefer Sutherland,
Gena Rowlands,
Olivier Martinez,
Tchéky Karyo,
and
Jean-Hugues Anglade
FBI profiler Special Agent Illeana Scott (Jolie) suddenly finds herself on a twisted and terrifying journey, surrounded by suspects in a case that has become chillingly personal. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Crime
|
Drama
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jon Bokenkamp (also screen story)
Michael Pye (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
D.J. Caruso
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 17, 2004
Video: August 17, 2004
Theatrical: March 19, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

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...
80
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A somber, absorbing thriller that treads familiar psycho serial killer terrain with style. Elegantly made and comparatively restrained in cramming sick and grisly stuff down the audience's throat.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A certain genre of thriller depends more upon style and tone than upon plot; it doesn't matter if you believe it walking out, as long as you were intrigued while it was happening.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
If only Taking Lives had given Jolie a greater foil than Ethan Hawke -- a young Kevin Spacey or Jack Nicholson say -- the film might have been a B-movie classic.

63
Premiere
Peter Debruge
Sexy, stylish, and legitimately suspenseful.

63
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
Smarter than your average serial-killer movie, thanks to unusually fleshed-out characters inhabited by a high- pedigree cast.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The movie voids a lot of good will with a cheesy ending. This is just the kind of denouement I was hoping Taking Lives wouldn't sink to, yet it does.

60
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Clearly, much care and intelligence have been lavished on discouraging, routine material.

60
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
From a technical standpoint, Taking Lives is competent and sometimes even impressive. It is cleanly edited and nicely shot -- at times as cool and rich as a York Peppermint Pattie. Beyond that, there is not much to say.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
By the time we get to the unsurprising surprise ending, what seemed innovative and challenging in Taking Lives has lost its juice and reverted to formula form, and we leave the theater with that same old let-down feeling of having endured a ritual one more time.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
The tense, stylish thriller turns into soft-core, slapdash psychodrama.

50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Ho-hum, another serial-killer thriller. Even with Angelina Jolie thrown in for forensic sex appeal, this dog won't hunt.

50
Film Threat
Stina Chyn
Has a lot going for it, but two-thirds of the way through, things fall apart. The films weaknesses are directly tied to the narrative.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
If Taking Lives starts off with a modicum of wit and creepy-crawly scares, it winds up somewhere else altogether: in the cliche-strewn land of preposterous red herrings.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
No amount of technical skill can substitute for genuine shivers, and in the fright department this picture rarely lives up to its hype.

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
This multiple-twist thriller gets off to a fine, creepy start but eventually becomes too preposterous for its own good.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
After ''Seven'' and three ''Hannibal'' hits, the audience tolerance for baroque serial-killer flourishes has been duly amped. We require sustained creativity in our sick violence, and Taking Lives, after a token bit of ghastly foreplay, loses its life.

50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
By the pseudo-shocking end, we're half-entertained by the dedicated cast and half-lulled to sleep by the dull, overfamiliar sounds they make.

40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Sadly, Taking Lives, adapted from a novel by Michael Pye, proves to be one long wallow in elements that have long since had their effectiveness dulled flat.

40
Slate
David Edelstein
Caruso is a much more resourceful director than this material deserves, but I resented being two steps ahead of the genius profiler and the genius serial-killer.

40
Empire
Jo Berry
It's not hard to figure it out, but Caruso manages to throw in some tense moments that almost -- but sadly not quite -- make up for the film's daft ending.

40
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
On the plus side, it isn't boring, and Jolie and Ethan Hawke, who plays an art dealer and key witness, generate a certain amount of edgy chemistry. But eventually the filmmakers' desire to shock and tease overtakes any feeling for character or common sense.

40
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
It's slick nonsense at best and for the first hour it's watchable. There's cheap entertainment to be had from a thriller in which two detectives are played by beauties as ravishing as Jolie and Martinez.

38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The serial-killer thriller of the week, should have gotten a life of its own instead of trying to steal it from Michael Pye's novel of the same name and several other movies.

38
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Even though Taking Lives is not very good, it does contain a) a cool car chase and b) a sex scene in which Jolie goes topless. For some, this will be enough entertainment.

30
Village Voice
Ed Gonzalez
If the Naqoyqatsi-lite score by Philip Glass doesn't exactly make sense of the film's sketchy identity politics, it does complement its utter ridiculousness.

30
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
The film's finale is truly egregious, a laugh-out-loud combination of ludicrousness and sadism that someone somewhere probably found scary, assuming they never saw a thriller before.

30
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Nosedive it does, abandoning all pretense of style and eccentricity for at-times laughable predictability and a parade of unconvincing red herrings straight out of Murder Mystery 101.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Taking Lives would have to work nights to reach mediocrity.

25
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
If you can buy the pillow-lipped Angelina Jolie as a psychic FBI agent in Montreal to hunt a serial killer, then you can swallow the other implausibilities in this retread thriller.

25
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Because the characters in the movie have only stock obsessions and vague personal histories, there's no reason to be interested in them.

25
USA Today
Mike Clark
The trouble with indulging Taking Lives is that it's taking your time.

25
Chicago Tribune
Robert K. Elder
Caruso, who showed flair in the Val Kilmer vehicle "The Salton Sea," has a penchant for the dark side. In this case, it's the plodding, predictable ZIP code of the dark side.

20
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
A twist ending in search of its movie.

20
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Jolie is far too good for this tripe but she does give the film its only believable moments, and for the first half, her concentration makes you watch her intently.

16
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Pretty much the worst recent example of a genre.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
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