**May Contain Spoilers** Director Phillip Noyce delivers an atmospheric thriller with `The Bone Collector,' a somewhat grisly tale of a serial killer in New York City. Homicide detective Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) is an expert in the field of forensics; he has also been a quadriplegic for four years, the result of an accident sustained during the investigation of a crime scene. From the neck down he has the use of only a single finger, with which he controls a computer and monitor from his bed. Useless though his body may be, his mind is still sharp, and circumstances bring him together with a young NYPD officer, Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), who has just received a long sought after transfer to the Youth Services Division. Destiny takes her elsewhere, however. When she is the first officer to arrive at a crime scene, Donaghy proceeds to secure the area and take the appropriate measures to insure that any evidence is not compromised. Rhyme is consulted on the case (a murder), and takes note of the precision employed by Donaghy in handling the crime scene. When he meets her, he learns that while at the academy she had read one of his books on the subject (He has written a dozen, on forensics and related issues). Rhyme then presses her into service as his eyes and ears, to physically do at a crime scene what he cannot, by talking her through each step via radio. Reluctant initially, Donaghy soon exhibits an affinity for forensics and becomes much more than merely the physical extension of Rhyme; they become partners, and continue with the case accordingly. `The Bone Collector' offers some chilling moments, especially in two scenes, one of which involves a steam pipe, the other, lots of rats. In each case, it is all the more horrifying because the victims can see exactly what is about to happen to them, they have time to think about it, and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. It makes for an eerie, disconcerting story, and though inherently dark it never descends to the appalling level of a predecessor in the genre, `Seven.' Washington gives a top notch performance, keeping Rhyme interesting though confined to bed for the entire movie, and Jolie takes Amelia to a believable level that far surpasses the typical ingenue rendering of such characters. Unfortunately, character development, on the whole, is sacrificed for sensationalism; with the exception of Rhyme, whose character is readily established, we are offered mere glimpses of the rest. We have hints as to what motivates Amelia, but we are left guessing as to the agenda of Captain Cheney (Michael Rooker). Along the way, some characters are used like obstacles thrown into the path of a race track (Cheney is one, a bookstore clerk is another), with the sole intent of manipulating the audience. With a little more depth, this could have been a remarkable movie. The supporting cast includes Queen Latifah, who brings a welcome presence to the film as Rhyme's nurse, Thelma; Ed O'Neill (Detective Sellitto); Leland Orser (Richard Thompson); Mike McGlone (Detective Solomon), Luis Guzman (Eddie Ortiz); and Arthur Holden (Bookstore clerk). While this film provides for some real gut wrenching reactions, it is not `The Silence of the Lambs.' On a dark night, however, when you're alone in your living room with nothing but the flickering of the television and the wind howling outside, it'll do. I rate this one 7/10.
Review of The Bone Collector
