The Bone Collector [DVD] [2000]

Ah. Dear me. I’d remembered THE BONE COLLECTOR as a half-decent thriller, and figured that we’d be safe with the combination of Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington. Oh well…Two decades of CSI and considerable exposure to forensic science in documentaries, and this scenario seems sadly risible. Master criminologist Lincoln Rhyme comes over as a passive-agressive bully, plain and simple.There’s simply no justification for sending an untrained patrol cop into uncleared crime scenes to ‘secure the evidence’ when she does exactly the opposite, and when the perp might be lurking with fatal intent in any dark corner.The bed-bound but brilliant detective and his naïve partner is one of those literary devices which works very well in a book but simply didn’t translate into a credible movie. Or even an exciting one. My disbelief was beyond suspension, sadly.A recent TV series tried to resurrect the characters but it was cancelled after one season. Colour me not surprised!6/10

Once again I have been duped by the good reviews for a film. Denzel plays a quadraplegic who is allowed to continue investigating murders even though he is bed ridden. He alone can see the potential in a rookie cop [Angelina] and he is allowed to use her to investigate a series of murders whilst he maintains control via modern day electronics.Angelina obviously fits the pattern for the modern American investigator - 30-ish, $5k's worth of collagen lip implants, $10k's worth of dental work and a figure to die for. They must pay police officers an awful lot in the US.The murder scenes are realistically grisly but the roles of Denzel and Angelina and the way the rest of the police force fawn over them made me press the eject button before seeing all the film.

A film that tries to be like Seven but turns out to be about a Three instead. The latter part of the film really lets itself down. Which is a shame really since the film for the most part is pretty solid, until it gets towards the climax. The script masquerades a serious build up towards the end and some great revelation and it just doesn't pay off. The sudden forced romance between the two characters just doesn't flow either. The acting however is pretty good as is the cinematography and general atmosphere. Bit of a missed opportunity really. Worth a watch though if you enjoy a crime thriller.

As always the book far exceeds the movie. In the movie most of the story that Deavers penned has been omitted thus making this a fairly short film. If you read the novel you will see that during the first 24 hours of the plot at least 3 more murders are committed by the Bone Collectors. The collector abducts a young mother and her daughter and keeps them in a gringy basement building, but the police women working with Rimes is able to solve the clues and save them. The old man that the collector shoves into a pipe that is slowly filling up with sea water as the tide rises is also rescued just in time, but this is missed out in the film. As is the young boy that is held by the BC in the basement of his safe house and has been left to be eaten by a pack of wild (abandoned) dogs by the heroine and the NYPD ESU.In the book the story is also linked to a possible terrorist attack on a UN conference and the eventual perpetrator of this attack is the young mother that they rescued from the collector.This movie detracts from teh book in a zillion ways, even down to the finer details. In the book his nurse and therapist is a man named Thom, but in the movie it is a woman. I bought the dvd after reading the book on vacation, but was sadly disappointed. I appreciate that to have made the movie as the book reads would have meant a much bigger budget and therefore a bigger gamble, but to catch the essence of this excellent piece of writing by Deavers would more than likely been a box office hit. The leads were played by Denzil Washington and Julianne Moore and they played them well, but the writers and production team missed the target by omitting over 3/4 of the novels storyline.

This film was off the back of the success of Se7en starring Brat Ptt and although some copy films are occasionally rubbish this is brilliant, Mrs Brad Pitt plays a passable part but Denzel does the leg work to drive this film forward, ironically he has no legs and is confined to his hi-tech bed and still solves the case.His nursemaid is played by Queen Latifa who is underused by the director as her personality is amazing and deserved more film time.This is the 3rd time I've watched this and give it another 2 years and I'll be back for a rerun

I HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK THIS FILM IS BASED ON, BUT I FOUND THE FILM ENJOYABLE WHEN I WATCHED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME DESPITE THE PLOT WEAKNESSES OF THE MOVIE AND THAT IS WHY I GOT IT! GOOD CAST AND GOOD PERFORMANCES!

The DVD was new and in wrapper, quality is great. Waited quite some time for delivery though.

THIS FILM IS ONE OF THE BEST.A DETECTIVE INJURED IN THE LINE OF DUTY.A ROOKIE WHO IS MANIPULATED INTO CRIMESEANINVESTIGATION.LOTS OF CLUES. STILL KEEPS YOU GUESSING FANTASTIC FILM.