Mr. Brooks | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Bruce A. Evans |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | John Lindley |
Edited by | Miklos Wright |
Music by | Ramin Djawadi |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | MGM Distribution Co. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 120 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [2] |
Box office | $48.1 million [2] |
Mr. Brooks is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Bruce A. Evans starring Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, and William Hurt. It was released on June 1, 2007. The film follows the eponymous character, a celebrated Portland businessman and serial killer (Costner) who is forced to take on a protégé (Cook) after being blackmailed, and has to contend with his bloodthirsty alter ego (Hurt) who convinces him to indulge his "habit". His life grows even more complicated when a driven police officer (Moore) reopens the investigation into his murders. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $48.1 million against a $20 million budget.
Earl Brooks, a respected businessman in Portland, Oregon, leads a secret life as a serial killer. Despite his effort to curb his "killing addiction," Brooks succumbs to his id, Marshall, and kills a young couple in their bedroom. As part of his psychopathology, Brooks leaves each victim's bloody thumbprint on a lampshade, an act that spawned the nickname the "Thumbprint Killer". He follows a meticulous modus operandi, including fastidious preparation, cleansing the crime scene, posing the bodies, locking doors before departing, and even reciting the Serenity Prayer to help himself calm down. Brooks realizes later that the bedroom curtains were open during the murder, the open window facing an apartment building.
Portland Police Homicide Detective Tracy Atwood is on the case, having trailed the Thumbprint Killer for a number of years. During her investigation she finds out that another serial killer that she previously caught, Thornton Meeks aka The Hangman, has escaped from prison and has vowed to kill her.
Brooks' daughter, Jane, unexpectedly arrives home and asks for a job at his company, having dropped out of college. Later, Brooks learns that Jane is pregnant. Soon after, the Brooks are visited by Palo Alto detectives investigating a murder in Jane's former campus dorm. Brooks realizes that Jane committed the murder. He briefly considers allowing her to be caught to "save her" from becoming like him. He changes his mind and commits a similar murder in Palo Alto to provide Jane with an alibi.
A man calling himself "Mister Smith" approaches Brooks. Having a direct view at the murdered couple's bedroom, Smith took pictures of Brooks' crime as it happened. He demands to accompany Brooks during a murder. Brooks reluctantly agrees, warning Smith that killing can become addictive.
Detective Atwood interviews Smith and several other residents living across from the latest crime scene. Brooks learns Atwood, in addition to being stalked by The Hangman, is undergoing a difficult divorce from her husband, Jesse Vialo. He decides that Vialo and his lawyer/lover, Sheila, will be Smith's first victims. At the scene of the Vialo murder, Smith wets his pants.
Leaving the scene, Smith holds Brooks at gunpoint in panic. Brooks admits to being suicidal, having found his urges irrepressible. At a cemetery, Brooks tells Smith to kill him and dispose of his body in an open grave, sparing his family the shame of his crimes. Smith pulls the trigger. However, Brooks had previously tampered with the gun on the off-chance that he changes his mind. Brooks, deciding he wants to live and see his grandchild, kills Smith and hides his body in the open grave.
With the photos already destroyed, there is no evidence tying Brooks to the crimes. With Smith's urine the only DNA evidence tied to the Thumbprint Killer, the investigation is off Brooks' trail. Brooks also cleaned out Smith's apartment, intentionally leaving behind a moving company receipt with a new address written on it. Atwood goes to this address and finds herself face-to-face with The Hangman and his girlfriend. A shootout ensues, ending when Atwood wounds Meeks, forcing him to murder his girlfriend and then commit suicide.
A few days later Brooks anonymously calls Detective Atwood, whom he has come to admire. The brief conversation makes Atwood suspect Smith is not the Thumbprint Killer. That night, Brooks has a nightmare in which Jane murders him. After his wife wakes him up, he lies in bed reciting the Serenity Prayer.
Mr. Brooks opened in 2,453 theaters and grossed $10,017,067, with an average of $4,083 per theater and ranking #4 at the North American box office. The film ultimately grossed $28,549,298 domestically and $19,572,602 internationally for a total of $48,121,900 worldwide, above its $20 million budget. [2]
Mr. Brooks received mixed reviews from film critics. [3] [4] On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has a score of 55% based on 161 reviews with an average rating of 5.70/10. The critical consensus states "The set-up is intriguing, but Mr. Brooks overstuffs itself with twists and sub-plots, becoming more preposterous as it goes along." Costner and Hurt were both praised for their performances. [5] The film also has a score of 45 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 34 critics indicating "mixed or average reviews". [6] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "the cop on the case, [is] played by Demi Moore with a striking directness that deserved better than being saddled with an absurd back story as an heiress with a fortune-hunting husband." [7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [8]
On the director's commentary, Bruce Evans said that the film was to be the first of a trilogy, but as with any franchise it depended on the film's profits. [9] Despite its commercial success, there are no plans to make further films. Speaking in April 2009, Panabaker said, "Everybody wanted to make a trilogy. I saw Kevin [Costner] last summer and we still would love to. The idea of my character and Kevin's character, it'd be so much fun. I think you got to see how manipulative they both are with each other. I would have loved to have done three." [10]
Speaking with Jason Jenkins at Bloody Disgusting in 2020, Evans further elaborated on what the follow-ups might have entailed. [11] "'Someone would have kidnapped his family, having no idea who they were dealing with,' Evans notes, pointing out that the kidnappers would not only be contending with the murderous Brooks, but his burgeoning psychopath of a daughter as well." Mr Evans noted that Brooks' id Marshall would have returned, and have been "killed" by Brooks at some point in the second film, eventually being resurrected and returning “angrier and more perverse”. Furthermore, Mr Evans revealed that the third film, which would have found Brooks and Jane at odds with one another, would have ended with Brooks killing both himself and his daughter, having realized that there is no hope for either of them.
The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 23, 2007.
Mr. Brooks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Film score by | ||||
Released | May 22, 2007 | |||
Genre | Soundtrack | |||
Length | 51:01 | |||
Producer | Ramin Djawadi | |||
Ramin Djawadi chronology | ||||
|
The film score for Mr. Brooks was composed by Ramin Djawadi. The soundtrack album was released on May 22, 2007. [12]
The film's soundtrack features Ramin Djawadi's score and the song "Vicious Traditions" by The Veils. Ramin Djawadi was nominated for the World Soundtrack Award in category Discovery of the Year in 2007. English metalcore band Asking Alexandria wrote a song based on the film entitled "Hey There Mr. Brooks" for their 2009 debut album Stand Up And Scream .
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "One Last Question" | 0:43 |
2. | "Vicious Traditions, song" (By The Veils) | 4:46 |
3. | "Regrets of an Artist" | 2:08 |
4. | "The Thumbprint Killer" | 4:44 |
5. | "Addiction" | 2:43 |
6. | "Hallway Burial" | 2:03 |
7. | "Detective Atwood" | 2:24 |
8. | "Unwelcome Partner" | 3:16 |
9. | "Suicide Note" | 3:05 |
10. | "Decision" | 5:01 |
11. | "Meet Meeks" | 3:42 |
12. | "Her Story" | 2:24 |
13. | "Are We Alone" | 1:38 |
14. | "Realization" | 1:42 |
15. | "A Clue" | 3:35 |
16. | "Mr. Brooks" | 3:31 |
17. | "Graveyard Standoff" | 3:36 |
Total length: | 51:01 |
The Glimmer Man is a 1996 American buddy-cop action comedy film directed by John Gray and produced by Steven Seagal. The film stars Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton, and Brian Cox. The film was released in the United States on October 4, 1996.
A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names have been changed and much of the plot has been rewritten and altered from its original form. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
Lady Vengeance is a 2005 South Korean neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook. The film is the third and final installment in Park's Vengeance Trilogy, following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003). It stars Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja, a woman released from prison after serving the sentence for a murder she did not commit. The film tells her story of revenge against the real murderer.
The Dark Mirror is a 1946 American film noir psychological thriller film directed by Robert Siodmak starring Olivia de Havilland as twins and Lew Ayres as their psychiatrist. The film marks Ayres' return to motion pictures following his conscientious objection to service in World War II. De Havilland had begun to experiment with method acting at the time and insisted that everyone in the cast meet with a psychiatrist. The film anticipates producer/screenwriter Nunnally Johnson's psycho-docu-drama The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Vladimir Pozner's original story on which the film is based was nominated for an Academy Award.
15 Minutes is a 2001 American satirical buddy cop action thriller film directed and written by John Herzfeld and starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns. Its story revolves around a homicide detective and a fire marshal (Burns) who join forces to apprehend a pair of Eastern European murderers videotaping their crimes in order to become rich and famous. The title is a reference to the Andy Warhol quotation, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
The Silence of the Hams is a 1994 comedy thriller film written by, directed by, and starring Italian comedian Ezio Greggio. It is a parody of many popular thriller and horror films, notably The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. Along with Greggio, it features an ensemble cast of Dom DeLuise, Billy Zane, Joanna Pacuła, Charlene Tilton and Martin Balsam.
Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer, conductor, and record producer. He is known for his scores for the HBO series Game of Thrones, for which he was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2018 and 2020. He is also the composer for the HBO Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon (2022–present). He has scored films such as Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, Warcraft, A Wrinkle in Time, Iron Man and Eternals, television series including 3 Body Problem, Prison Break, Person of Interest, Jack Ryan, and Westworld, and video games such as Medal of Honor, Gears of War 4, and Gears 5. He won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones, in 2018 for the episode "The Dragon and the Wolf" and in 2019 for "The Long Night".
White of the Eye is a 1987 British horror-thriller film directed by Donald Cammell, starring David Keith and Cathy Moriarty. It was adapted by Cammell and his wife China Kong from the 1983 novel Mrs. White, written by Margaret Tracy.
Righteous Kill is a 2008 American crime thriller film directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz. The film stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as New York City Police Department detectives on the hunt for a serial killer. It is the third film in which both De Niro and Pacino appear in starring roles, and also stars John Leguizamo, Carla Gugino, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, and Curtis Jackson.
Sleepless is a 2001 Italian giallo film directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Max von Sydow and Stefano Dionisi and marks Argento's return to the giallo subgenre. The film was another box office success when it opened in Italy, taking in over 5,019,733,505 lira by the end of its theatrical run.
Unfaithfully Yours is a 1984 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Zieff, starring Dudley Moore and Nastassja Kinski and featuring Armand Assante and Albert Brooks. The screenplay was written by Valerie Curtin, Barry Levinson, and Robert Klane based on Preston Sturges' screenplay for the 1948 film of the same name. The original music score is by Bill Conti and the song "Unfaithfully Yours " was written for the film and performed by Stephen Bishop.
Horsemen is a 2009 American psychological thriller film directed by Jonas Åkerlund, written by David Callaham, produced by Michael Bay, and starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi. It follows Aidan Breslin, a bitter and emotionally distracted detective who has grown apart from his two sons after the death of his devoted wife. While investigating a series of murders, he discovers a terrifying link between himself and the suspects that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Conquest and Death. The film was shot in Winnipeg and was released on March 6, 2009.
The Unborn is a 2009 American supernatural horror film written and directed by David S. Goyer. The film stars Odette Yustman as a young woman who is tormented by a dybbuk and seeks help from a rabbi. The dybbuk seeks to use her death as a gateway to physical existence. Produced by Michael Bay and his production company Platinum Dunes, it was released in American theaters on January 9, 2009, by Rogue Pictures, making it the last film Goyer directed. It also received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, but was a commercial success.
Blitz is a 2011 British action thriller film directed by Elliott Lester, written by Nathan Parker, and starring Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen and David Morrissey. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Ken Bruen, which features his recurring characters Detective Sergeant Tom Brant and Chief Inspector James Roberts. The narrative follows a violent police officer trying to catch a serial killer who has been murdering police officers in South East London.
Chain Letter is a 2010 American slasher film directed by Deon Taylor. It was written by Diana Erwin, Michael J. Pagan, and Deon Taylor. The film is about six friends who are stalked by a murderer who uses chains to kill them if they do not pass on the chain letter to five other people.
The Raven is a 2012 American crime thriller film directed by James McTeigue, produced by Marc D. Evans, Trevor Macy and Aaron Ryder and written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. Set in 1849, it is a fictionalized account detailing the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet and author helps the police pursue a serial killer, whose murders mirror those in his stories. While the plot of the film is fictional, the writers based it on some accounts of real situations surrounding Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious death. Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. The film stars John Cusack, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Luke Evans. Its title derives from Poe's 1845 poem "The Raven", in a similar manner to the earlier unrelated 1935 and 1963 films.
The Iceman is a 2012 American biographical crime film loosely based on hitman Richard Kuklinski. The film was directed by Ariel Vromen and stars Michael Shannon as Kuklinski, with Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, James Franco, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles.
Crown Heights is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Matt Ruskin. Adapted from a This American Life podcast, the film tells the true story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and how his best friend Carl King devoted his life to proving Colin's innocence. The film stars Lakeith Stanfield as Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King.
Hangman is a 2017 American crime thriller film directed by Johnny Martin and written by Charles Huttinger and Michael Caissie. The film stars Al Pacino, Karl Urban, Joe Anderson, Sarah Shahi, and Brittany Snow. The film follows a detective who tries to track down a serial killer who bases his murders on Hangman, the children's guessing game. It was released on December 22, 2017, and was panned by critics.
The Pembrokeshire Murders is a Welsh three-part television drama miniseries based on the Pembrokeshire murders by Welsh serial killer John Cooper. In 2006, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins decided to reopen two unsolved 1980s murder cases linked with a string of burglaries. New advances in technology for forensic DNA analysis, witness reports and artists impressions of the suspect led to Dyfed-Powys Police reviewing a 1989 episode of Bullseye, which led to the serial killer finally being caught. It premiered on ITV on 11 January 2021.