Dammit, Keanu! Stop screwing around! Couldn’t you have just killed time with your band Dogstar between “Matrix” movies?
This complete waste of time explores burned-out FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) and serial killer David Allen Griffin (Reeves) late in their relationship. Before the movie even begins, Campbell had chased Griffin for three-and-a-half years in Los Angeles. This phase of their courtship ended in an incident where the agent had to make a choice in a crisis of either capturing Griffin or saving the life of his latest victim. The outcome left Campbell so traumatized that he now lives in Chicago and spends all of his time overmedicating himself.
Griffin, however, misses his old dance partner. He then follows Campbell to Chicago and once again stalks young, lonely women to strangle. To nudge his pal out of his drug-induced funk, Griffin sends photos of the women to the now re-instated agent a day before their intended death to see if Campbell can find them in time.
I’m sure Mr. Reeves took this gig so he could play a serial killer and because first-time feature director Joe Charbanic had directed one of Dogstar’s videos. I can only assume poor Spader was dragged into this total mess because he needed a job. Unfortunately, the script sucks, the directing sucks, and, as much as I do like him, Keanu sucks. The movie would probably be more believable if Keanu and James had switched roles, but then again, probably not. The only real bright spot is remembering that the two “Matrix” sequels are only a couple of months away from production and that their extended shoot will protect their star from more of his bad choices for a while.
