Mr. Brooks Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Attempting to resist his urge to murder, a serial killer is pursued by a persistent detective and a witness who wants to become his protege.

Review: While "Mr. Brooks" is an engaging thriller, I would say it was, perhaps, too ambitious in all that it tried to accomplish in one film. Much like "Haunters," it was as if they were trying to set up elements for a sequel when that time could have been put toward the primary story. Unlike "Haunters," however, this film was the first of three scripts that will probably never see the light of day. So it is somewhat understandable they established a lot in, what they believed, was the first entry. Regardless of the finer details, Mr. Brooks, the character, is a unique serial killer, and I wish this film received more acknowledgement. Sure, this is no "Seven," but there are a lot of interesting aspects, and the film knew how to commit murder without getting caught--a hell of a lot better than a piece of shit like "Murder by Numbers."

I'm going to go over each of the plot lines that way you can see the oddity to the action and overabundance of exposition. Let's start with Mr. Brooks' story first since that would be most appropriate. Kevin Costner plays Mr. Brooks in a nice and creepy manner while taking the role in a more subtle direction. My rough interpretation of his psyche is that of a schizophrenic with mild psychopathy. It's tough to determine due to the fact that he sees an imaginary friend, named Marshall, claims he's addicted to killing (though he does enjoy it), but he isn't a sociopath and is trying to stop killing. At the same time, he's highly intelligent and calculating despite his inability to control himself when it comes to killing. By the way, Marshall is played by William Hurt who actually turns in a commendable performance compared to his typical bullshit. Also, Marshall acts as inner dialogue with Mr. Brooks, and I do thoroughly enjoy their conversations. His method of killing was pretty solid using a wrapped gun, and I've even seen people on youtube test out his style and it works. The way Mr. Brooks accomplishes a lot of his feats is due to his wealthy lifestyle, as he owns a packaging company, and has all manner of equipment at his disposal as well as easily accessible alibis. Anyway, Mr. Brooks quit killing for a couple years when entering AA meetings, but before this he was known as the "thumbprint killer" since he'd leave that mark at each crime scene.  One night, after winning a business award, Mr. Brooks decides to kill a couple who were apparently exhibitionist fuckers. This leads Mr. Brooks down a path of shenanigans that crosses over with all the other characters. I'd actually say most of Mr. Brooks' back story is a true mystery that should have been discussed more instead of the other characters. We get hints at what drives him, but he's relatively unexplored as a character which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Next we have Mr. Smith, amusingly played by Dane Cook, who is an amateur photographer who liked to take pictures of the exhibitionist couple. He catches Mr. Brooks in the murderous act, but, rather than turn him in, he decides he wants Mr. Brooks to help him kill someone. While that is super contrived, Mr. Smith does come off as that kind of weirdo. Mr. Brooks rightfully doesn't want to deal with Mr. Smith, but he is strangely intrigued by the situation and indulges things for a time. As he tries to impart tricks of the trade to Mr. Smith, Mr. Brooks grows increasingly irritated with Mr. Smith who is too impatient to be a proper killer. Since Mr. Brooks has been trying to quit killing, and is failing at this, he sees an opportunity arise where he could allow Mr. Smith to kill him while hiding his serial killer ways in order for his family to never learn the truth. Angering Mr. Smith enough that he would feel compelled to lash out, Mr. Brooks concocts a scheme where he would be shot and dumped in an empty grave, and he'd leave a note to his family saying he disappeared to avoid facing a terminal illness. But having plans within plans, Mr. Brooks changes his mind at the last minute by sabotaging Mr. Smith's gun in the off chance he changed his mind. Then Mr. Brooks kills Mr. Smith and dumps his body in the grave instead. The last step is Mr. Brooks sets up Mr. Smith as the thumbprint killer through various actions he took earlier. Honestly, this plot line and establishing Mr. Brooks should have been the only things going on in the film. While the other plot lines could have been lurking in the background, they eat up a lot of time that should have been dedicated or reworked to only focus on Mr. Brooks meeting Mr. Smith and the antics that ensued. This change would have allowed for more time to develop the two men, their relationship, and the serial killer training.

The third main plot, and definitely one that should have been reduced and simplified, has to do with the detective hunting the thumbprint killer. Her name is Atwood and she's played by Demi Moore. I'm perfectly fine with this character, even if she's a bit cliched, but they threw in too much back story on her that would have been better in a sequel. Atwood is going through a divorce that is getting ugly, and she happens to be the daughter of a rich banker or something. If that weren't enough, another killer Atwood was chasing escaped prison or something and is gunning for her. So this character alone has four plot points! That's way too much. The way Atwood's issues are resolved is that Mr. Brooks and Mr. Smith kill the husband that's divorcing her, Mr. Brooks arranges for her to stumble across the other killer who ends up killing himself, she is tricked into thinking that Mr. Smith is the real thumbprint killer, and Mr. Brooks gets to the bottom of why the daughter of a rich banker would become a simple detective. I felt Atwood was interesting enough to be the main adversary for Mr. Brooks, but her role should have been reduced especially if she wasn't going to be anywhere close to catching him. The banter they have at the end of the film should have comprised the dynamics of their relationship more, and I think that would have made for a better plot line than what we got.

The last and most pointless story arc involved Mr. Brooks' daughter, Jane. Jane suddenly drops out of college and Mr. Brooks suspects there is more going on with that decision. At one point Jane claims she is pregnant but that is not the reason she's dropping out. Later, when cops show up, Mr. Brooks realizes she more than likely murdered a classmate at school, and that's the real reason she dropped out in an attempt to escape the situation. This plot line is compounded with absurdity as it's implied Jane is a potential serial killer as well, and we don't need that much in a film still trying to establish its own star. Mr. Brooks fakes a killing in the style as Jane's in order to throw the police off. This is probably the main motivator for Mr. Brooks wanting Mr. Smith to kill him since he blames himself for Jane's apparent condition. He also knows Jane is a stupid serial killer to boot and would have been caught fairly easy if not for Mr. Brooks' intervention. The part that bothered me most about this plot point was the fact that they do a fake-out kill where Mr. Brooks dreams Jane kills him, and they imply she may want to take over his business by eliminating him. Please--if this were a trilogy, then maybe you could leave little hints to this conclusion in the first two movies, but not going all in right out the gate. Besides, a more fitting end to Mr. Brooks would be a showdown with Atwood.

Hopefully you can see how the film was incorporating too many plot lines that should have been divided up over the course of multiple films. Does this hurt the film overall? Yes and no. It would have made for a more concise story with less going on, but they do manage to tie all the story threads together in a meaningful way. I just wish if they were going to put so much in they would have taken the "Dick Tracy" route and wrapped everything up just in case there was never a sequel. It's okay to establish elements to be explained later, but this was taking it a little too far. As I mentioned, I would have rather they made it about Mr. Brooks getting back into killing and his discovery at the hands of Mr. Smith. As the two plotted to murder, we could see glimpses of Atwood closing in with maybe slight acknowledgements of her problems. Then have Mr. Brooks develop a rapport with Atwood since he respects her quite a bit. This could have established a cat and mouse type of story for the second film. Ehh...it's all moot though since a sequel is unlikely. In light of my qualms, the film is still good and felt original to a degree. Mr. Brooks himself is an interesting killer and presents something different which is hard to pull off at this point. I don't see this film as changing the face of crime thrillers, but it offers enough originality to warrant a viewing for sure.

Notable Moment: When Mr. Brooks calls Atwood toward the end. Now this is what I would have loved to see more of. Killer and detective banter is always awesome.

Final Rating: 6.5/10