Tag Archives: Thriller

“Seven” is a Masterful Action Thriller

David Fincher’s Seven (A-) is relentless in its sustained somber tone as two detectives – Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman – track down a serial killer inspired by the “Seven Deadly Sins.” Unlike typical buddy cop movies, there’s no room for levity or comic relief as the central duo plumbs the depths of depravity and faces their own demons in a grim, rainy, unnamed metropolis. It is handsomely crafted, extremely suspenseful and disturbing.

“Crimson Tide” is Exciting Thriller

Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide (B+) is a fascinating look at the shades of gray that sometimes collide with a tightly regimented world. The movie’s conflict revolves around the mixed interpretation of an emergency signal and how two officers on a U.S. military submarine – Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman – clash in how to lead their men to handle their pressure-cooker situation. It’s a taut, well-written and action-packed thriller, all the more impressive in its tight space.

In “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” Lynch Returns to the Scene

A prequel of sorts to his eponymous cult television series detailing the final days of the slain Laura Palmer’s life, director David Lynch fashions a tonally off-kilter slow-burn drama in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (C-). Replacing the sometimes giddy, carefree world of log ladies and damn fine cups of coffee with a generally oppressive sense of dread and sorrow, Twin Peaks The Movie never finds its distinctive voice. Viewers are left at a distance, voyeurs to a world where a dwarf speaks backwards and in subtitles and where additions to the seedy pop-mythology don’t serve to enrich as much as disturb. Lynch has built more artfully on his vision of the underbelly of small-town Americana in Blue Velvet and his Twin may have peaked in serialized form rather than this celluloid format. Kyle MachLachlan is pretty vacant as the central detective, and Sheryl Lee brings very little to the mysterious Laura Palmer whose mystery doesn’t seem much solved by this puzzling film.

“Single White Female” is a Solid Thriller

Director Barbet Schoeder followed his acclaimed Reversal of Fortune with the Fatal Attraction for urban roommates thriller Single White Female (B), but his skill plus the believably of protagonist Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh as the unhinged roomie somehow make it work. Fully fleshed out characters make some of the cliches in the climax a bit more forgivable.