weasl-729-310682 *** Spoilers Lie Ahead ***I like Angelina; she's undeniably pretty. Her lips are like surreal or perhaps unreal. I do not know.I rated her movie "Changeling" (which I own") higher. I absolutely loved her in "Gia" (also own) and "Girl Interrupted".I cannot point to what told me that the suspect, "person of interest" was her guy, but I screamed at the screen multiple times: "That's your guy!" Also "Don't do that!", when it was obvious she was about to bed him.Well, perhaps I should rethink my rating, because it definitely engaged me. No one screams at the screen without being caught up in it right?Did anyone else have the reaction I did?

Blake Peterson I like Angelina Jolie. Something about her (possibly her fiery eyes, her sensuous lips always slightly curved into a subtle smirk) diffuses with self-assured sexiness that makes her a leading lady who doesn't have to do much to convince us that she's a smart, sanguine toughie always sitting above everyone else. Even in meandering material like "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider", we're enraptured by her magnificence, which luminously finds itself at new heights with the blazing personality that becomes her.A film like "Taking Lives" is the kind that Jolie does best: a thriller without much of a brain but seems to be better just because Jolie is there. In every heroine role she's ever had, she's appeared strong and courageous, gutsier than the men around her and more adroit than the doubters who pine against her. In hindsight, "Taking Lives" is the type of film most likely to be played during a "Lifetime" serial killer movie marathon special event — but like the majority of suspense movies that repeat on "Lifetime", there's a sort of compulsively watchable energy about "Taking Lives", not hugely ambitious but not dumb enough to make us feel bad about enjoying ourselves. It's throwaway, but at least we're having fun, right? In "Taking Lives", Jolie portrays Illeana Scott, an FBI agent brought into Montreal to help apprehend Martin Asher, a murderer who gets his kicks by stealing the identities of his victims after he grotesquely kills them. Scott is a profiler of the highest common denominator, with an unconventional skill set; her new co-workers have a hard time taking her seriously, an understatement considering she greets them for the first time lying with a smile in an open grave, later on showing that she best understands the people she's investigating by squatting in weird positions in the areas they committed their crime. But she's not faux spunky like an embittered Temperance Brennan. We are immediately taken with her.The killer's streak is hindered when James Costa (Ethan Hawke) is brought in for questioning. Costa, a local art dealer, happened to be at the right place at the right time and witnessed Asher partaking in one of his heinous crimes. Lucky for the detectives, he as a good eye and great artistic ability: he is able to draw a near perfect, detailed sketch of the murderer. Problems arise, though, when Scott, slipping out of her reserved knowingness, develops feelings for the witness."Taking Lives" moves along as a good, maybe even great, serial killer movie until it abruptly reaches a twist ending either predictable or implausible — I'm not sure which adjective is a better descriptor. While you might be guessing who the murderer is way ahead of time, however, you won't have much of an idea how they're going to catch him, and since the climax of the movie is outrageously over-the-top (and one could say satisfying), the preposterousness not only is forgiven — it's also accepted as part of the insane plot, which threatens to fly off the rails but remains engaging against all odds. And anyway, you can't put down "Taking Lives" for being ludicrous while turning around and calling "Dressed to Kill" ludicrous but saying it's OK because it's stylish. No. No.The film has since become a forgotten fossil of the 2000s, but don't pass it off as an average blockbuster that never was. Jolie is as entrancing as ever, Hawke a plausible normal-guy-caught-in-a-bad-situation, Rowlands a shifty-eyed marvel as Asher's paranoid mother. "Taking Lives" is perhaps more fattening than I would like to admit, but I don't mind dumbfounding thriller fun, as long as I'm kept on my toes and the atmosphere's decent. Here, you've got everything. What more could you want?

Scooby52 D.J. Caruso knows how to craft a good film. His debut feature, The Salton Sea, was a sordid but gritty look into the drug underworld. For at least the first half of Taking Lives, he does a great job too, setting us up with tightly paced serial killer thriller with a haunting scope. Angelina Jolie does a reasonable job in the lead and more importantly is nice eye candy. Sadly, it doesn't take long for the film to fall apart after a promising opening.I don't feel the need to get into the plot, that's there in the IMDb summary. So basically without revealing any actual plot twists there are two main problems with this film. The first is that it's VERY predictable, even if you don't get the twist straight away, there comes a point in the film where there is no choice for the viewer to see the inevitable twist before it actually comes. And once that point comes along it's a downhill slope for the remainder of the film.The second problem is, even if the twist is obvious, that is no excuse for failing to tie up loose ends and fill up plot holes. In this film there's too many unanswered questions that the film-makers don't even attempt to address. It's an insult to the audience to simply expect them to forget about certain facts introduced to the story early on in the piece and the film cheats so often too, only showing what they want you to show, because the that's the only way the story can hold up. Overall a film that starts off so well, but ultimately disappoints and assumes it's audience has an I.Q. of less than 65.

tieman64 "Taking Lives" is a terrible serial killer movie starring Angelina Jolie as a maverick FBI profiler tasked with tracking down a deranged madman. The film's best moments involve Jolie and actor Ethan Hawke sharing some low-key, romantic conversations. The rest of the film is terribly written, predictable, and Jolie never convinces as a FBI profiler. The film was directed by D. J. Caruso, a director who specialises in expensive mediocrity. Elsewhere "Taking Lives" lifts segments from David Fincher's "Seven" and Jonathan Demme's "The Silence of the Lambs". The film's climax, in which Angelina Jole fakes a pregnancy, is so bad, you'll want to lobotomize your skull and bleach your eyeballs. Or maybe even take up serial killing.5/10 - Worth no viewings.