The Bone Collector (1999)

The Bone Collector (1999)

 

6/10

 Starring

Denzel Washington

Angelina Jolie

Queen Latifah

 

Directed by Phillip Noyce

 

Based on a 1997 crime novel of the same name by Jeffery Deaver, The Bone Collector is a crime thriller about the life of a tetraplegic detective named Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) and his eyes and legs, Amelia (Angelina Jolie). What I liked about the movie is the structure that led to the partnership between Lincoln and Police Officer Amelia. Their partnership was formed through some smart thinking, and a risky move by Amelia in preserving the crime scene of the first murder in the series of murders (similar to the book). Amelia stopped a moving train from trampling on the evidence.

The movie removes some of the pace of the book and slows things down with Rhyme getting to know everyone through some unnecessary meet-and-greets with the who's who. The changes to the plot didn’t add excitement, just wasted time.

The plot centers on a series of murders committed by a serial killer. Detective Rhyme was a well-decorated crime scene officer who got involved in an accident at a crime scene, which led to him becoming a tetraplegic. He is still on the payroll, and many cases are brought to him to review. This was one of them. The case piqued his interest, and he asked for Amelia, the first officer on the scene, to help solve it, based on her intelligent way of collecting evidence.

The murders continued, and we follow the chase between Rhyme, supported by Amelia, and the serial killer.

The film is a nice addition to Washington’s portfolio. His performance, along with Jolie’s, was just borderline fantastic.

It’s worth noting that the murders are horrific, but this is no horror movie, so you don’t get to see the gory nature of things—just implied incidents and their end results.

Many more books about Rhyme and Amelia’s cases were written by Deaver after the success of his first book. Since this movie wasn’t much of a success, we never got to see a sequel.

A TV series was made in 2018, titled Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. The show had Russell Hornsby play Rhyme, but it was canceled after just one season. I saw only one episode and didn’t bother going back.

If you’re going to watch this movie now, be ready for a slow pace and a very annoying ending. It feels like the movie ran out of ideas on how to wrap up all the events and just rushed to the finish line.