The Watcher
(2000)
review bySuspiriorium

The Watcher was the recipient of some rather bad press when it was released, partly due to Keanu Reeves apparent embarrassment at being associated with the project. He had agreed several years earlier to take a small part in Joe Charbanic’s (who shot several videos for Reeves’ band Dogstar) first film, in order to aid financing. But then with him on board, it became rather bigger than Reeves had wanted, so he tried (unsuccessfully) to back out. Looking back on it now, it seems clear that it’s not quite the complete turd it was made out to be at the time, although it’s no classic either.

The plot concerns burned out FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader), who has relocated to Chicago after failing to save the woman he loved from vicious serial woman killer David Allen Griffin (Reeves…obviously). Trouble is, now girls are being killed in Chicago in exactly the same manner, & Campbell is getting pictures of the victims sent to his flat. It seems this killer is one dude who wants to engage in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.

For some reason, this film is set in some kind of strange movie-world, as evidenced by such ridiculous moments as when Spader has a chat on the phone with an FBI guy who is engaged in a completely superfluous car chase at the same time. Of course, there is absolutely no motive for the killings (beyond being a weird love-letter to the pursuing agent), & Reeves’ character moves to Chicago purely to be closer to the one guy who can catch him.

The Watcher is at its best about half an hour in, with a thrilling race against time to find a girl just from a picture. It’s a chilling portrait of the isolation of big city life, where individuals are lost amongst a sea of faces, forgotten as soon as they are seen. Not only does no-one care any more (Spader has to literally grab people of the street & force them to look at the picture), but also our humanity counts for nothing here. As Reeves says, “We're all stacked right on top of each other, but we don't notice each other any more.” Unfortunately this idea is rapidly discarded, & after all the cards are placed on the deck, all we have to do is sit back & watch it play out in an increasingly predictable & clichéd manner. By the end, it’s a distinctly tepid & dull affair (the whole thing is some kind of homoerotic love story, apparently), & you begin to wonder just why you were watching in the first place. Thankfully, that’s also about the point at which the film finishes (rather abruptly & with an unsatisfying denouement).

The film is not aided by some weak performances. Reeves may have relished the chance to play bad in The Gift, but here he’s as dull, lifeless & wooden as he’s ever been. Spader tries hard, but all he can do with the weak material is alternate between distractedly staring off into mid-distance (showing that he’s troubled by the past), & looking vaguely concerned whenever a girl is in danger. Marisa Tomei meanwhile has nothing to do but get put in jeopardy.

It’s also not helped by some rather excessively flashy direction from Charbanic. Whilst he does manage the odd moment of tension, most of the film is pretty dull, & all suspense has evaporated by the end. For some reason, all the sequences from Keanu’s point of view are shot on video – presumably so that stupid audiences can tell the difference from third-person viewpoints (I also didn’t appreciate the voice-over “memories” pointlessly re-iterating things I’d only heard a few seconds earlier). And the frequent flashes to negative images, intrusive songs, MTV-style editing, & daft slo-mo shots of Reeves dancing just become wearying quite rapidly. The film will also disappoint horror fans, since the killings themselves are shown only very briefly, & with hardly anything resembling blood, let alone gore.

Ultimately, though, it’s left up to Marco Beltrami’s fantastic score to carry the film through. It’s a thrilling, pulse-pounding mix of electronic techno and choral & orchestral fury that drives the action along brilliantly, & adds a genuine heart to the more supposedly “emotional” moments. The kills are, with the grandiose requiem-style choral music (as he perfected in Scream 2), absolutely spine tingling. It’s often said that sometimes a composer will score the idealised version of a film, rather than the one that actually wound up getting made, & that seems to be the case here. There’s also some beautiful cinematography by Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), & an amusing supporting turn by Chris Ellis.

Overall, The Watcher is decent enough big-budget Hollywood serial killer fare. It’s far from the worst example of its type, & whilst it’s by no means the best either, if you’re in the right mood for the most part it passes the time fairly well.

The UK DVD from Universal is decent enough fare, with a typically nice transfer, & a fine Dolby 5.1 audio track that gives appropriate prominence to Beltrami’s excellent score. Unfortunately - & this may be because I got a rental release rather than the retail version, although I can’t find any listing for the retail version either – there was absolutely nothing on the disc in the way of extras whatsoever. Now that’s scary.