The Watcher film review

certificate_15

THE WATCHER

Keanu Reeves's reinvention as a screen villain continues with cold-blooded murder in Joe Charbanic's grimy but poor thriller.

FBI agent Joel Campbell (Spader) fails to apprehend wily serial killer David Griffin (Reeves), aka The Watcher, who stalks his young female victims for weeks before slaughtering them with piano wire. In despair, Campbell signs himself off the case and moves from Los Angeles to Chicago, where he seeks counselling from therapist Polly (Tomei).

She believes the two men need each other to operate. But ever since Campbell crossed paths with The Watcher, he has suffered migraines which render him almost unconscious. Polly's theory is proved correct when The Watcher follows Campbell to the Windy City to continue their game of cat and mouse.

As before, he sends the police clues, and even couriers a picture of his intended victim 24 hours before he strikes. If Campbell and the cops find the girl by 9pm the next night, she lives. If not, the body count rises.

Charbanic's film keeps the central pairing apart far too long, spending nearly an hour racing about the city in various helicopters and squad cars. Flashbacks to Campbell's anguished past intercut the drama, establishing the cop's motivation for catching The Watcher.

Yet we never discover the reasons for Griffin's bloodlust. Nor is there any sense of the character's fierce intelligence in the screenplay or Reeves's performance. Spader is excellent as the cop crippled by self-doubt and his acute headaches.

Lank-haired Reeves goes through the motions, plying his good looks to ensnare his victims, while Tomei is merely bait to bring about the climactic face-to-face meeting.

Short on running time and ideas, The Watcher is just a psychological thriller-by-numbers.