The Bone Collector (1999)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers (WGA):

Jeffery Deaver (book)
Jeremy Iacone (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Two cops on the trail of a brutal killer. They must see as one, they must act as one, they must think as one, before the next victim falls.

Plot:

Denzel Washington plays a quadriplegic homicide detective. He and his female partner track down a serial killer.

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Police | Quadriplegic | Crime Scene | Seizure

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Denzel Washington	...	Lincoln Rhyme
Angelina Jolie	...	Amelia Donaghy
Queen Latifah	...	Thelma
Michael Rooker	...	Captain Howard Cheney
Mike McGlone	...	Detective Kenny Solomon
Luis Guzmán	...	Eddie Ortiz (as Luis Guzman)
Leland Orser	...	Richard Thompson
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Dr. Barry Lehman
Bobby Cannavale	...	Steve, Amelia's Boyfriend
Ed O'Neill	...	Detective Paulie Sellitto
Richard Zeman	...	Lieutenant Carl Hanson
Olivia Birkelund	...	Lindsay Rubin
Gary Swanson	...	Alan Rubin
James Bulleit	...	Train Engineer (as Jim Bulleit)
Frank Fontaine	...	Grandfather

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violent content including grisly images, and for language.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:18 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36863) | Philippines:R-18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In Jeffery Deaver's novel Queen Latifah's character Thelma was actually a man named Thom.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Richard is testing Lincoln's heart monitor with a Fluke, he is only using one lead, instead of two.

Quotes:

Captain Howard Cheney: You got a smart mouth, and it's gonna get you in trouble someday.
Thelma: Yeah, and it also may bite your ass if you don't stop tryin' to aggravate my patient!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Juno (2007)

Soundtrack:

Bed of nails

Dark and tense, but ultimately lazy story telling

When NYPD cop Amelia Donaghy uncovers a mutilated corpse she shows a natural eye for detail and preserving crime scenes. When the killer turns out to be a serial killer leaving clues to his next crime, NYPD turn to the paralysed ex-forensics cop, Rhyme to help them piece together the clues. With Rhymes bedridden, Donaghy becomes his eyes, ears and legs as she walks the scenes under his guidance to uncover the trail.

This is a star vehicle - two Oscar winners and some good supporting actors (Luis Guzman, Michael Rooker to name two). However the plot is below the Washington and Jolie. It is the old "killer taunting cops to catch him" chestnut. It is slightly spiced up by the use of forensics etc and watching Washington putting together the logical clues is quite fun - mainly because you get the feeling that you're right there with him and that it all makes sense. However most of it doesn't makes sense, a lot of the forensics is bull and relies of coincidence or Washington dragging facts from the back of his head. This is a shame because it feels like the film is just being lazy at times and is cheating us out of logic. This laziness feeds right through to the ending - if you thought that the Scream films were lazy and stupid wait till you see the stupid ending to this! Up till this the film does have plenty of horrible scenes and lots of tense bits with Jolie walking round in the dark with the killer potentially just round the corner.

Jolie is good and deals with her character well - despite the fact that a beat cop would never just be able to become a crime scene officer on the whim of an ex-cop. Washington deals well with his character being paralysed for the whole film but does get a bit silly at the end where he fights the killer with just his head! Support is fine - but Guzman is not as good as he usually is.

Overall this is a B movie that got an A movie budget. The film is dark and tense but ultimately a bit lazy and blows it totally with a stupid lazy conclusion.