Taking Lives (film)

Taking Lives
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	D. J. Caruso
Produced by	Mark Canton Bernie Goldmann
Written by	Jon Bokenkamp Michael Pye (novel)
Starring	Angelina Jolie Ethan Hawke Olivier Martinez Kiefer Sutherland
Music by	Philip Glass
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	March 19, 2004 (2004-03-19)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$65,470,529

Taking Lives is a 2004 psychological thriller film starring Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. The film was marketed with the tagline "He would kill to be you."

The original music score was composed by Philip Glass and the main title's theme was composed by Austrian Walter Werzowa, best known for the Intel jingle and his work in the band Edelweiss. The film was loosely adapted from a 1999 thriller novel by Michael Pye of the same title.

Story and writing credit

The film was based on the novel of the same title by Michael Pye. Numerous hands had a part in the screenplay as script doctors. The cover page of the screenplay credits Jon Bokenkamp with the original draft, Nicholas Kazan with subsequent revisions, Hilary Seitz with more revisions, and David Ayer with the last revisions (to February 28, 2003). The WGA screenwriting credit system ultimately awarded screenplay and adaptation credit to Bokenkamp alone.

Plot

The film opens in the early 1980s where teenager Martin Asher (Paul Dano) is seen fleeing from home, taking a bus in Canada. He befriends another teen on the bus, Matt Soulsby (Justin Chatwin) and the two talk about their plans for the future. When their bus breaks down, the two decide to rent a car and drive all the way to Seattle. While Matt is changing a flat tire, Martin comments on how he and Matt are both about the same height, and pushes Matt in the way of an oncoming truck. He is last seen taking Matt's guitar and walking away singing in the fashion that Matt had been in the car.

Twenty years later, a successful FBI profiler, Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie), is summoned to help out Canadian law enforcement in Montreal, to apprehend Asher, who has been killing people for years and assuming their identities as he travels across North America. Illeana has to adjust to working in a strange city with a police team that she does not really fit in with. Meanwhile, Mrs. Asher (Gena Rowlands), Martin's mother, claims she has recently seen her son in Montreal and tells the police she truly believes Martin is evil.

The team meets with art salesman James Costa (Hawke), an eyewitness who saw Asher kill his last victim. James makes a drawing of Asher and, within a couple of days, Asher is found. Illeana discovers Asher's next target is Costa, so protecting him is priority number one. During the time they spend together, Illeana and James begin to develop feelings for each other, though Illeana refuses to become involved with him because of the ongoing case.

After kidnapping Costa with Illeana in pursuit, Asher supposedly dies in a car accident and the case is closed. As Illeana is packing up in preparation to return home, Costa visits her in her motel room. Without saying anything, he undresses her and they make passionate love on a chest of drawers and the bed, surrounded by gruesome crime scene photos. The next morning, Illeana awakes to find herself partly covered in Costa's blood. At first, she fears he is dead, but then he awakes and they discover he had merely popped the stitches in his arm that he needed following the accident.

As Costa has his stitches re-sewn in the hospital, Illeana is called down to the morgue as Mrs. Asher has come to identify the exhumed body presumed to be her son. However, the body turns out not to be her son's; Martin is still alive somewhere. A terrified Mrs. Asher flees the morgue and into the elevator, but before Illeana can follow her in, the doors shut. When they finally open, Illeana sees James covered in blood, standing over Mrs. Asher's mutilated corpse, and realizes Costa is Asher, that Asher killed the actual Costa months ago. Horrified by the discovery that she had slept with a serial killer, Illeana almost faints as the police unsuccessfully try to prevent Asher from escaping the hospital. Illeana later returns to her motel room and frantically washes herself, in a state of manic disgust. An investigation shows that the man the real Costa had identified as Asher was really Christopher Hart (Kiefer Sutherland), an art thief who did business with Asher, who had nothing to do with the murders. The Montreal police chase Asher, but he escapes in a train station and disappears, and approaches his next victim, a traveling sports talent scout. After that, he calls Illeana on the phone and makes fun of her. Through listening in on the conversation, the Montreal detectives discover that Illeana had sex with Asher. Consequently, she is fired from the FBI.

Seven months later, Illeana is living in a desolate farmhouse by herself in rural Pennsylvania and looking heavily pregnant with Asher's twin boys. One day as she sits alone in her home, she discovers Asher has broken into her house. She frantically tries to escape, but Asher overpowers her, punching her and throwing her to the ground. Asher tells her he could live as a family with her, and a disgusted Illeana tells him she does not know who he is, that she is carrying 'James Costa's' babies. In fury, Asher begins choking her and eventually stabs her in her pregnant belly with a pair of scissors. Illeana, seemingly unharmed by the stabbing, shocks Asher by quickly stabbing him in the heart with the same scissors. As Asher lies dying, Illeana removes a prosthetic pregnant belly, and tells him the past seven months have been a carefully planned trap. The film ends with Illeana calling the police, saying "It's over," and staring out her window.

Cast

• Angelina Jolie as Illeana Scott
• Ethan Hawke as James Costa/Martin Asher
• Kiefer Sutherland as Christopher Hart
• Gena Rowlands as Mrs. Rebecca Asher
• Olivier Martinez as Joseph Paquette
• Tchéky Karyo as Hugo Leclair
• Jean-Hugues Anglade as Emil Duval
• Paul Dano as Young Martin Asher
• Justin Chatwin as Matt Soulsby
• André Lacoste as Cashier
• Billy Two Rivers as Car Salesman
• Richard Lemire as Québec City Cop
• Julien Poulin as Québec City Inspector
• Marie-Josée Croze as Medical Examiner
• Emmanuel Bilodeau as Doctor
• Christian Tessier as Interrogation Officer

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mostly poor reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, describing it as "an effective thriller, on its modest but stylish level". Total Film, a UK film magazine, gave it two stars out of five with the following verdict: "Starting off well but rapidly losing its way, Taking Lives is more cereal-killer flick than serial killer -- we've been fed this mush a thousand times."

Box office

Taking Lives grossed $32,682,342 in the United States and $65,470,529 worldwide.

External links

• Official website
• Taking Lives at the Internet Movie Database
• Taking Lives at AllRovi