Mr Brooks - Review

Review
Vices. Addiction. To some extent we all have them; simple things like chocolate or ice cream. Or more daring endevours such as Rollercoasters or horror films. They get out heart racing, and feed our ego.

Mr Brooks is just like you and me, except his addiction is killing.

The films greatest strength lies in possibly Mr Brooks' (Kevin Costner) greatest weakness: Marshall (William Hurt). A manipulative, imaginary alter-ego who's Brooks' main driving force when it comes to feeding his addiction.
Hurt and Constners double-act is excellent, and is utilized on the correct side of 'enough'. It's not picked up and shoved into the audiences face, nor is it ignored for too long so that we might forget it even exists.

Although both cold and emotionless in their own ways, Marshall is the more playful - the more hunger-driven - of the two characters. And Hurt plays him with so much vigour and delicacy that, just when you think he and Brooks are two different characters, you are reminded that they are one and the same; two sides to a coin.

But why so much praise for these two actos and the characters they play? Is it because other than these two Jekyll and Hyde characters, this is a pretty average film?

Well, yes.

The plot seemed unsure of itself, like it wanted to do too many things at once. The main plot is your basic serial killer plot; detective Atwood (Demi Moore) is on the trail of killer (Costner), killer makes mistake and is blackmailed by the just-as-messed-up photographer/peeping "Mr Smith" (Dane Cook, who - to be fair - brought a certain allure and believable quality to his scenes with Mr Brooks and - indirectly - Marshall).

Atwood and her collective plot devices fail to add anything substantial to the film, except to bore and complicate things. The film tries to draw a comparison with Artwood and Brooks; addiction. Except, Artwood's back story is more rammed down our throats in a fleeting third act, rather than graciously exposed over time. Her divorce acts as a pull to try and humanise her, but merely acts as another diversion.

The final act is also disappointing, Marshall fades away into the background and, were it not for Costners best attempts, the films ending would have fallen flat on its face.

Verdict
Some classy performances from Hurt and Costner, but really, this film lacked in so many areas. Not from want of trying, however, perhaps it was trying too hard. There's an excellent 50% of movie in here, and if you can get past the ending and ignore the Demi Moore bits then this could possibly entertain you.

2.5/5