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. What I liked about the movie is the structure that led to the partnership between Lincoln and Police Officer Amelia (Angelina Jolie). Their partnership was geared by some smart thinking and risky move by Amelia is preserving the crime scene of the first murder, in the series of murders in this movie (similar with 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’s getting to know everyone with some unnecessary meet and greet with the who-is-who. The changes to the plot did not add excitement, just adding some time wasting.

The plot centers on a series of murders happening by a serial killer. Detective Rhymes was a well decorated crime scene officer who got involved in an accident at a crime scene which led to him being a tetraplegic. He is still on the payroll and many cases are brought to him to go through. This was one of them. The case got his interest and he asked for Amelia who was the first office on scene to help out in solving the case, based on her intelligent way of collecting evidence.

The murders continued and we are on a chase between Rhyme supported by Amelia and the serial killer.

The film is a nice addition to Washington’s portfolio, his performance and that of Jolie were just borderline fantastic.

To note is that the murders are horrific, but this is no horror movie so you do not get to see the gory nature of things, just implied incidents and the 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 was not much of a success, we do not get to see any sequel made.

A TV-Series was made in 2018 titled Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. The show had Russell Hornsby play Rhyme in the series and it was cancelled after just one season. Saw only one episode and did not bother going back.

If you are to watch this movie now, get ready for a slow pace and a very annoying ending. It comes from the movie seeming to have run out of ideas of how best to sum up all the events and just rushed to the finished line.