Mr Brooks
By Marshall Julius, Blockbuster.co.uk

“Finding someone you think would be fun to kill is a bit like, well it's a bit like falling in love. You meet a lot of candidates, and you like some of them, and they're nice. But they're not right. And that special one comes along, and your heart beats faster, and you know that's the one.”

A dark and elegant serial killer thriller with a wicked sense of humour and several standout performances, Mr Brooks takes a lot of chances and all of them pay off. Uncommonly well characterised and full of interesting ideas, it’s never dull, not even for a second. The most engaging and enjoyable psycho flick since The Silence of the Lambs, easily the best of the Hannibal movies, Mr Brooks is a fine introduction to a splendid anti-hero that you’ll be happy to spend some time with, just as long as he’s on the screen of course, and not creeping into your bedroom in the middle of the night…

“Don't worry. If I were here to kill you, you would already be dead.”

On the surface, Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is Mr Perfect. A devoted family man with a beautiful wife (Marg Helgenberger) and spirited daughter (Danielle Panabaker), he’s wealthy and well liked, a respected and respectable business leader who, as the movie opens, is named Man of the Year at a glitzy ceremony. Only for Earl, that isn’t enough. Encouraged by his evil but alluring alter-ego Marshall (William Hurt), it turns out Mr Brooks is a high-functioning schizophrenic psychopath driven to kill, not because he wants to, but because he has to. Eager to quit the habit, but like any addict easily drawn back to his terrible ways, Earl guns down a couple well known for doing the nasty with their curtains open.

A smart, methodical monster known to the press as The Thumbprint Killer, Earl’s decision to kill the pair without first closing the curtains leads a peeping tom photographer known only as Mr Smith (Dane Cook) to approach him with a warped proposal. Threatening Earl with photos of his ghastly crime, Smith reveals that he’s not after cash and has no intention of going to the cops. What he wants, as it turns out, is to go along on a killing and experience the rush of murder first-hand. A sick little puppy, by all accounts, and so Earl starts to teach him the ropes, though Marshall isn’t happy.

“Even if that guy was charming and funny,” he says, “ I still wouldn't like him.”

Pursued by a wealthy heiress driven by her own set of demons to become a detective (Demi Moore), and a very good one she is too, Earl and Marshall do their thing and what’s particularly twisted about this movie is that you can’t help rooting for them. In real life, obviously, we’d want him/them caught and put away forever. But in movie terms, taking the bad guy’s side is a great guilty pleasure that I’d recommend to all.

There’s a lot more plot, many more twists and surprises, but I’m not going to reveal any more as you’ll find out the rest when you’re watching this at home, with the lights turned low, icy shivers running down your spine and a perversely inappropriate smile on your lips. Co-written and directed by Bruce A. Evans, who previously made Kuffs but don’t let that put you off, this is the best Kevin Costner movie in ages, a real departure for the good guy actor and a film that proves just how versatile and talented he really is. The same goes for Hurt and most surprisingly Moore, whose crime-busting character has a lot more depth, and is much more interesting than your standard obsessive movie cop.

Tense and suspenseful with a well-crafted screenplay, sophisticated visuals and a great cast of characters, Mr Brooks is an easy movie to like, and best of all, I had no idea how it was going to end. Add it to your list today and enjoy the mayhem.

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