The Bone Collector

December 11, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 118 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

DVD Quick Take

This is one of those movies that was good at the theater, but much more enjoyable on DVD. The quality of the sound and the picture along with the ability to set your own mood at home without having to listen to rude chatty people, be stepped across by women with peanut sized bladders or graze like cattle out of noisy popcorn bags makes this one much more enjoyable at home. You get both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 and both tracks are excellent with excellent use of surround without going TOO over the top with it. Likewise the video quality successfully captures the dark mood of this movie. If you’re in the mood for a good crime-drama or mystery kind of movie, this is a good one. Our only complaint is we were hoping for some outtakes with Angelina Jolie naked, but she stays fully clothed on DVD as well.

Movies For Guys’ Original Review of the Theatrical Release

Is it just me or does anyone else see the title “The Bone Collector” and just imagine how much fun the porno flicks are gonna have making a play on that title when they spoof this thing? Ok, so it’s probably just me. Actually what we have here is an entertaining effort at a crime drama. However, it fails to provide that intangible magic to make it something special.

The story surrounds Lincoln Rhyme, played by Denzel Washington, who is one of the foremost experts in forensic science. Unfortunately, Lincoln has suffered a permanent injury which has turned him into a quadriplegic with the exception of just enough movement in his right index finger to conveniently move the mouse on a computer. Through some plot twists he ends up teamed with a female patrol officer named Amelia, played by Angelina Jolie. Rhyme works from his bed with all of his high tech toys while Amelia provides the work on the crime scenes as they team up to try to track down a killer who keeps leaving forensic clues to his next crime.

Denzel is such a good actor that he can do this kind of role in his sleep, and in fact he does all of his work in bed here which kinda limits what he can do with the performance. He does his usual good job, but nothing really outstanding. Angelina Jolie and the rest of the cast also turn in performances that are good but nothing really all that special. The only problem I had with the casting was Ed O’Neill. Ed is obviously a great actor as Al Bundy is almost the polar opposite of how he is in real life. However, he’s made some real stinkers in his previous movie attempts. Anyone remember “Dutch”? They even made fun of that one on Married With Children. Anyhow, the problem I now have with old Ed is that I kept expecting him to tell Denzel to dial “10-10-321″ and “save a buck or two”! Ok, maybe that’s just me too.

Overall, this is a very typical and average thriller any way you slice it. It’s a decent story. The acting, directing, cinematography are all good. Other than the fact that we didn’t get to see Angelina naked, my biggest knock on the movie is that they seemed to hold back a bit. They set up some grizzly crime scenes and scenarios, but they didn’t go ahead and deliver when they set us up to be shocked. Instead they pinched us off repeatedly. The result of all of this is a good entertaining flick that just lacks that little something special that is needed to put it in the class of something like “Silence of the Lambs”.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Angelina Jolie, DVD, Denzel Washington, Drama, Ed O'Neill, Queen Latifah, R