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.
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 Steven Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton, and Brian Cox. The film was released in the United States on October 4, 1996.
The Alzheimer Case is a 2003 Belgian action thriller film directed by Erik Van Looy, based on the novel De zaak Alzheimer by Jef Geeraerts. It follows an assassin with Alzheimer's disease, who plans to retire but ends up becoming a target himself after he refuses to kill a young girl.
In Cold Blood is a 1967 American neo-noir crime film written, produced and directed by Richard Brooks, based on Truman Capote's 1966 nonfiction novel of the same name. It stars Robert Blake as Perry Smith and Scott Wilson as Richard "Dick" Hickock, two men who murder a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas. Although the film is in parts faithful to the book, Brooks made some slight alterations, including the inclusion of a fictional character, "The Reporter". The film was shot on location at sites where Smith and Hickock's crimes occurred, including the real Clutter home where they robbed and murdered four members of the family. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2008, In Cold Blood was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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.
Nancy Drew is a 2007 American mystery comedy film loosely based on the series of mystery novels about the titular teen detective of the same name by Edward Stratemeyer. It stars Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew, with Josh Flitter and Max Thieriot. Directed by Andrew Fleming, the film follows Nancy Drew (Roberts) as she moves to Los Angeles with her father Carson on an extended business trip and stumbles across evidence of an unsolved mystery involving the death of a murdered movie star, prompting Nancy to solve the cold case. It was released in theaters on June 15, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critical reactions were mixed, but the film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.
Shottas is a 2002 Jamaican crime film about two young men who participate in organized crime in Kingston and Miami. It stars Ky-Mani Marley, Spragga Benz, Paul Campbell and Louie Rankin and was written and directed by Cess Silvera. Despite its low budget, the distribution of an unfinished bootleg made it a cult favourite long before its official limited release in the United States by Triumph Films and Destination Films in 2006.
Anamorph is a 2007 independent psychological thriller film directed by Henry S. Miller and starring Willem Dafoe. Dafoe plays a seasoned detective named Stan Aubray, who notices that a case he has been assigned to bears a striking similarity to a previous case of his. The film is based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas.
Death Sentence is a 2007 American vigilante action thriller film directed by James Wan and starring Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a man who takes the law into his own hands after his son is murdered by a gang member as an initiation ritual; Hume must then protect his family from the gang's resulting vengeance. The film is loosely based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield; although the novel is a sequel to Garfield's Death Wish, the film is unconnected to the previous Death Wish film series.
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.
In the Valley of Elah is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. Its title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath took place.
10 Rillington Place is a 1971 British crime film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt and Pat Heywood. It was adapted by Clive Exton from the book Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy and produced by Leslie Linder and Martin Ransohoff.
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.
Safe House is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by David Guggenheim, and starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. The film follows Matt Weston (Reynolds), a CIA officer on a low-level posting in Cape Town, South Africa, who is in charge of a safe house where the CIA is interrogating Tobin Frost (Washington), a veteran operative accused of betraying the agency. When the safe house is attacked by mercenaries, Weston flees with Frost in his charge. As the team of killers, who seem to be one step ahead of the pair, track them throughout Cape Town, Weston wonders who to trust. Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Nora Arnezeder and Robert Patrick co-star.
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.
"The Original" is the first episode in the first season premiere of the HBO science fiction western thriller television series Westworld. The teleplay was written by series co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who also receive story credit with Michael Crichton, writer and director of the 1973 film upon which the series is based. The episode was directed by Nolan, and is dedicated to the memory of Eddie Rouse, who played Kissy.
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 Queen's Corgi is a 2019 English-language Belgian animated comedy film produced by nWave Pictures. The film was directed by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kesteloot and written by John R. Smith and Rob Sprackling. Inspired by Queen Elizabeth II and her pet corgis, the story follows a corgi named Rex, who gets lost and tries to find his way home.
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.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)