To Catch a Killer (4/10)
by Tony Medley
119 Minutes.
R.
This is a strange story of the chase to find a
serial killer. Eleanor (Shailene Woodley) is a fledgling police
investigator who has a troubled past when she is drafted by the FBI’s
chief investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) to help track the killer down. She
is demeaned by others because of her youth, inexperience, and
psychological problems, but Mendelsohn has faith in her mainly because
he recognizes that her verstehen makes her the only person who
could somehow intellectually identify with the killer and understand
him.
It's a tenuous proposition and it leads to a
denouement that challenges reason, given the sociopathy of the killer.
Worse, it treats the vicious cold-blooded killer with surprising and
blatantly unjustified sympathy and understanding.
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