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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Mr. Brooks

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#1 of 4 Posted 5/29/07 10:29 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1632 Last Nov-2
To All [Msg # 22425.1 ]

MR. BROOKS

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
Element Films/Relativity Media
Grade: B+
Directed by:    Bruce A. Evans
Written By: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon
Cast:   Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, William Hurt, Marg Helgenberger, Ruben
Santiago-Hudson
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 5/29/07
Opens: June 1, 2007

You’ve got to watch out for the quiet ones! That’s an old expression that’s not just an empty cliche but one that’s possibly true more often than not. A tragic case cited as evidence involves Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech University who recently went on a killing spree that saw thirty-two students dead. Cho, who was picked on in high school because of his eerie silence, was so mysteriously quiet that even on opening days of classes when professors asked students to introduce themselves, he announced himself as simply “question mark.” The principal character in Bruce A. Evans’s “Mr. Brooks” did not kill as many people as Cho, at least not to our knowledge–though we do not know the number that fell victim to his various methods of assassination at the time of the story’s opening. Nor was he in any way a dork like Cho. Quite the opposite. He was a quiet fellow, though, bland, but a man-of-the-year type, the head of a successful Portland, Oregon company living in a dream house that could easily make the pages of Architectural Digest (and, in real life, did, where John Lindley captured the glass structure in Shreveport, Louisiana). Kevin Costner, perfectly cast by director Evans for the role of this bland Mr. Earl Brooks, is the type of guy that would not be scared off by visions of capital punishment, though thoughts of lethal injection would make him quite cautious in his methodology–because he is an addict. He is addicted not to alcohol or drugs or gambling but to killing, and when he goes to AA meetings, he tells the supportive group simply that “I am an addict,” which is all the folks have to hear in order to give him a round of applause.

“Mr. Brooks” is a story told with the addition of a “Fight Club” type of alter ego, an effective one, because Brooks’s alter ego, Marshall, is played by William Hurt, and you probably can’t get better teamwork than between Costner and Hurt. Whenever the Dr. Jekyll in Brooks tries to fight off his addiction (the group is no help), the Hyde in Marshall pesters him to keep killing. Marshall gets off on murder even more than Brooks, so what’s a poor rich guy like the title character to do?

We in the audience know that Brooks is the Thumbprint killer, so called because he leaves the victims’ thumbprints in their blood at the crime scenes. We know more than the murderer’s nemesis, Detective Trace Atwood (Demi Moore), dedicated to ascertaining the serial killer’s identity and tracking him          down. For a time, she is certain that her man is one known as Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), but Smith is, rather, a mechanical engineer who lives in an apartment across from that of a couple murdered in the heat of passion by Brooks. Smith catches the act on camera and has his own agenda for getting something out of Brooks, something much more interesting and dangerous than mere blackmail.

“Mr. Brooks” is no simple murder story but has a complex plot. The story involves on the one hand the relationship of Brooks with his sophisticated wife, Emma (Marg Helgenberger) and daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker)–the latter having dropped out of college in the middle of freshman year with an agenda of her own and some pretty serious complications that will involve her father’s extracurricular activities to smooth out.   On the other hand, the fabulously rich detective, Tracy Atwood, is in the middle of a divorce action, her soon-to-be-ex demanding a huge sum of money as a settlement which she is unwilling to give. The detective has made a statement that she hopes he will be “hit by a truck and die,” a wish that is about to get her into mighty serious trouble.

Adding to the complexity is a botched kidnapping that should have been excised from the film altogether and could easily lead to some unintentional laughter from the audience. Among the bits of humorous dialogue that might be caught by moviegoers who subscribe to People magazine involve characters played by Lindsay Crouse and Demi Moore, each talking about men who had “screwed them over.”

All in all, here is a gripping thriller that proves not only that the quiet ones may be harboring deep sinister, dangerous repressions, but that people clever enough to succeed in business may be smart enough to get away with criminal activities as well (Enron notwithstanding).

Rated R.    120 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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#2 of 4 Posted 5/30/07 10:10 AM

From Don D. (Sysop) Posts 3599 Last 11/26/08
To Harveycritic [Msg # 22425.2 22425.1 ]

Hi Harvey, I caught this at ShoWest a couple months ago. I'm surprised you didn't mention the violence. I'm no prude, but I was surprised by the level of... well, I'll just repeat the well-earned full MPAA censorship board rating: R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity and language.

--d

Edited 5/30/07 by Don D. (Sysop)

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#3 of 4 Posted 5/30/07 1:49 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1632 Last Nov-2
To Don D. (Sysop) [Msg # 22425.3 22425.2 ]

Brooks is rated R, Don, so sex 'n' violence are a given. But yes, both are ratcheded up in this one. But there's not much smoking! -Harvey

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#4 of 4 Posted 5/30/07 2:46 PM

From Don D. (Sysop) Posts 3599 Last 11/26/08
To Harveycritic [Msg # 22425.4 22425.3 ] (Unread)

"Brooks is rated R, Don, so sex 'n' violence are a given. But yes, both are ratcheded up in this one."

The violence, particularly. It was the hardest R violence outside a horror movie like Saw I've seen in a long time. In a way, it was a throwback to the kind of violence in Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather.

--d

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