THE WATCHER

by Tom Meek

Here's another serial-killer flick that's long on style and short on substance. And unlike The Cell, this so-called thriller from director Joe Charbanic (the videographer of star Keanu Reeves's band Dogstar) doesn't even have any resonating flair.

The ever-dutiful James Spader plays Campbell, a barbiturate-popping FBI agent from LA on mental leave in Chicago. His long-time nemesis (Reeves doing the madman bit with tongue-and-cheek irreverence) follows him to his new place of residence and starts garroting lonely dames in the hope of getting his old pal back into the game. Marisa Tomei is shoehorned into the cop-and-killer concoction as Campbell's shrink and the killer's ultimate intended victim. As the title suggests, the maniac's MO is watching his victims for a period of time before making his move, but the story never explains what caused the psychopath to became so unhinged. And though Reeves and Spader do strike some moments of kitschy good camp, there's never any suspense. Charbanic's still-shot, slow-motion sequences register as amateurish and tedious, and the all-too-hip soundtrack is hacked in with disarray.