Mr Brooks

Mr. Brooks

Directed by: Bruce A. Evans

Starring: Kevin Costner

Genre: Thriller

Run Time: 120 min.

Release Date: June 2007

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

Having heard about the thriller nature of MR. BROOKS, I had my doubts that someone as feel-goody as Kevin Costner could pull off such a role. I was wrong. Costner is loving, creepy, and pathologic all in the same breath.

Mr. Brooks (Costner) has a loving wife, a strong local business, is a respected community leader, and he has an addiction problem. An unusual one: he loves to kill people. We catch up with Mr. Brooks at an awards ceremony where he’s being presented an award for citizen of the year. But on the way home, something (someone?) lurks in the back of his mind. This something/someone is named Marshall (William Hurt, INTO THE WILD) and he is part of Mr. Brooks’ broken psyche. Not having killed in nearly two years, Marshall wants to be let out to play (reflections of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are easily seen).

Mr. Brooks battles Marshall but, in the end, loses to his darker side and begins killing again. But, unfortunately for all concerned, someone witnesses the murder and wants to blackmail him. But not in the way most would think. Mr. Smith (Dane Cook, GOOD LUCK CHUCK) wants Mr. Brooks to teach him how to kill. A strange method of blackmail to be sure, but Mr. Brooks takes this would-be killer under his wing and begins showing him the bloody ropes.

Trying to hunt down Mr. Brooks (the police have dubbed him ‘The Fingerprint Killer’ because he does some interesting things at the crime scene with the victims’ fingerprints) is Detective Atwood (Demi Moore, BOBBY). The meticulous nature of Mr. Brooks, though, makes her job exceptionally tough. No stray hairs (Mr. Brooks vacuums the crime scene prior to leaving), no gun shells (he’s got a special way making sure the shells stay with him), nothing to show who this killer might be. Atwood, though, also has problems of her own. She’s going through a messy divorce while trying to solve The Fingerprint Killer crimes. For Mr. Brooks, her marital discord becomes an avenue of surprising revelations.

The story of Mr. Brooks is morbidly fascinating. He’s the guy next door. The successful business man. The good-looking success story. A family man. But he’s also a damaged dude. This gives the story a nice multi-facetedness that many movies lack. The added tension surrounding his only daughter who may have inherited some of Daddy’s traits makes it even more so.

I was surprised again and again by the strong performances from previously unknown areas. As noted earlier, Kevin Costner tends to lean toward the cute-and-fuzzy, but here takes on a role that is anything but, and does some exceptionally great work. Dane Cook, best known as a comedian, plays the role of a twisted wannabe killer with an amazing quality. Demi Moore as a roughshod cop who wants to do it her way and be damned the consequences is very believable.

The only problem I had with the film is that every time Mr. Brooks gets ready to kill someone, the people he’s ready to rub-out are having sex. That seemed very convenient and only an addition to the film to give it more sex-play rather than something realistic.

But that’s my only complaint.