Taking Lives - Director's Cut (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: D.j. Caruso
Actors: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland, Gena Rowlands, Olivier Martinez
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy Used: $0.33
You Save: $12.65 (97%)
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Rating:  176 reviews
Sales Rank: 7146
Format: Ac-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD4318D
ISBN: 079079831X
UPC: 012569431829
EAN: 9780790798318
ASIN: B00005JMWP
Theatrical Release Date: March 19, 2004
Release Date: August 17, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
IT'S THE STORY OF AN FBI AGENT WHO BECOMES INVOLVED WITH HER KEY WITNESS WHILE TRACKING A PROLIFIC SERIAL KILLER WHO ASSUMES THE LIVES & IDENTITES OF THE PEOPLE HE KILLS. SHE FINDS HERSELF SURROUNDED BY NUMEROUS SUSPECTS & NO ONE TO TRUST.
Amazon.com
While it doesn't rank with such grim classics as The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, D.J. Caruso's Taking Lives offers similarly heavy atmosphere, beginning well before fizzling into absurdity. Freely adapted from the novel by Michael Pye, and set in Montreal (although it was filmed in Quebec City), the plot trades in several familiar tropes of the serial-killer genre, beginning with the FBI agent (Angelina Jolie) who brings her unique skills (and brooding, low-key demeanor) to the vexing case of a killer who, out of apparent self-loathing, steals the identities of his victims and lives their lives until it's time for the next gruesome murder. Ethan Hawke plays the killer's alleged next victim, and in a film filled with twists that grow increasingly unconvincing, Keifer Sutherland is menacingly cast as a shifty suspect. Caruso's previous film was the creepy drug thriller The Salton Sea, so he's well-qualified to infuse Taking Lives with a darkly stylish sense of dread and at least one good shock to keep your adrenaline flowing. The second half essentially betrays the promise of the first, but there's enough going on to hold your interest to the end. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 171 more reviews...
 Not the greatest film, but definitely not the worst! May 18, 2009
Mira Doerfler (Somewhere in Ohio, USA)
I am a big Kiefer Sutherland fan, so when I heard he had a role in this film, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, Kiefer only has a small part, but I found the storyline very intriguing and the movie fun to watch.
If you're interested in the mind of a killer, I would check this movie out. It's definitely enjoyable and fun to follow each twist and turn of the story. Plus, there's a fair amount of eye candy. ;]
AJ, why do you let your mouth hang open like that? May 17, 2009
Judy K. Polhemus (LA)
A telephone call is made in the final scene, leaving this viewer with questions. So...
Flashback two hours earlier to the beginning of the movie "Taking Lives" (a very pregnant title):
The kid on the bus is just so pitiful--shaggy hair, thick glasses, hang-dog look, a sure target of a serial killer, if one happens to be on the bus. (Because this is a movie about a serial killer, that scenario will likely happen.) The bus blows a tire, the kid and the friendly guy taking the seat next to him buy a dilapidated old car, and off they go. The car also blows a tire. Then the viewer gets to witness just how the serial killer uses an opportunity to his advantage to take another life, both literally and metaphorically.
Angelina Jolie with her Dolly Parton lips (over-sized--if those are her born-with-them lips, I apologize, but I suspect she supersizes them) is an FBI profiler and long-time friend of the department chief in Montreal where the body from the opening scene is found. He invites her onto the case.
The killer's favorite ruse is to smash his victim's face, among other horrifics he inflicts, and take his identity. The viewer learns later why this identity theft is a psychological necessity.
When Ethan Hawke's character, an art gallery owner, is brought in for questioning--he actually sees the alleged murderer--the question becomes: Is he the serial killer? Jolie's character shows why he isn't.
Stop. That's the first hour, the good hour, when the viewer thinks the film may reach classic proportions, when Hawke's character is released.
Most other reviewers will tell you why this movie dies from a wrong turn. I think it dies because the viewer is forced in the second hour to watch Jolie with her mouth hanging open, a technique she seems to favor because it is there in all her movies.
If you find my reason biased and repugnant, how about the implausibility of the contrived sex scene between an agent and a cleared suspect. OK, sex happens--maybe not so implausibly. Still, a question. Kiefer Sutherland is a suspect. He dies in a kidnapping accident. How convenient that he should die exactly at this point. There should be a question here.
That's how the second hour goes--questions are raised, but not in the proper context and not the right questions about the right things.
Gena Rowland plays the killer's mean-spirited mother, allowing the viewer a look into the neglected, destroyed heart of a killer, son of an emotional killer. Rowland inhabits that role.
While initially presenting a truly promising and very dark story, "Taking Lives" also takes the viewer on a death trip of sorts, that of a trip to disappointment. At least Jolie goes on to play Mrs. Smith and takes a new husband with that role.
Entertaining, But Too Easy To Solve May 2, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
This was a so-so serial killer movie with good and bad marks.
The good marks were mainly for keeping the viewer's interest. You don't fall asleep watching this film! Angeline Jolie looks as good as I've ever seen her, facially and figure-wise.
The film loses marks for an easy-to-solve story, some credibility gaps especially later in the movie and too small a part for Keifer Sutherland to get third billing. Also, the French accents by Jean-Hgues Anglade and Tcheky Karyo were hard for me to understand, forcing me to put on the English subtitles.
Overall, thuogh, it's worth a rental and was better than I had heard it was.
ok but not great January 3, 2009
Christopher Valentino (Huntingdon valley ,PA)
This is a so so movie some good things and many other bad things. Angelina Jolie played here role well but the rest of the cast is below average. a solid sex scene but in general it's just poorly produced.
So-so serial killer thriller October 9, 2008
R. Kyle (USA)
"Taking Lives" had a lot of potential. You've got an interesting story. FBI Profiler, Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is a stranger in a strange land, Montreal Canada. She's been sent there to help track down a serial killer who assumes the lives of the people he's killed and thus becomes pretty untraceable. In the process, she falls for the only witness Art Dealer Costa (Ethan Hawke) who was the only witness to the first crime.
The film offers some serious action and interesting twists, but nothing you wouldn't see on television save for a pretty steamy scene between Scott and Costa which earns the film its R-rating.
The problem is, the film's slow and not quite believable on several levels. It is great if you are a serious fan of either Hawke or Jolie.
Rebecca Kyle, October 2008
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