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DVD Movie Rating for: Taking Lives

Rating for Taking Lives : 2 out of 5 stars

Movie Plot of: Taking Lives

A top FBI profiler, Special Agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) doesn’t rely on traditional crime-solving techniques to unravel the mysteries of a murderous mind. Her intuitive, unconventional approach is often the only way to unlock the identities of the killers for the police to capture.

When Montreal detectives handling a local homicide investigation reluctantly ask for an outsider’s help to get inside the head of a cunning serial killer, Agent Scott joins the case. With meticulous insight, she theorizes that the chameleon-like killer is “life-jacking”—assuming the lives and identities of his victims.

As the pressure mounts to catch the elusive murderer, Agent Scott’s unorthodox methods alienate her from a territorial police team that feels threatened by her uncanny abilities. Her seemingly cold demeanor belies an unparalleled passion for her work, and she’s at her best when she’s working alone. But when an unexpected attraction sparks a complicated romantic entanglement, the consummate specialist begins to doubt her finely honed instincts.

Alone in an unfamiliar city with no one she can trust, Agent Scott suddenly finds herself on a twisted and terrifying journey, surrounded by suspects in a case that has become chillingly personal.

While Taking Lives delivers all the visceral impact audiences expect from a first-class thriller, it also explores a number of deeper and often surprising elements of personality and motive, leading director D.J. Caruso to muse that “it’s not so much a who-dunnit as a why-dunnit. The way the case must be solved is by figuring out the reasons for the killer’s behavior, finding his point of view, and from that, ultimately, discovering who he is.”

“We live in dangerous times and certainly this movie operates on that level, stirs that sense of prickly terror,” says producer Mark Canton. “But it also touches on ideas about childhood, alienation and rejection, themes that develop in a person’s life at a very early age, and how childhood fantasies sometimes manifest themselves in powerful and destructive ways. It’s an intelligent story, a smart person’s thriller.”

“You’re not sure what their back-stories are or their motivations and why they choose to tell people certain things,” adds producer Bernie Goldmann. “It’s a lot like life.

DVD Production Details of: Taking Lives

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke
Director: D.J. Caruso

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen
Aspect Ratio(s): 2.35:1
Audio Encoding: Dolby Digital 5.1

Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: August 17, 2004
Run Time: 109

DVD Extra Bonus Features

Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Unrated Director's Cut contains six additional minutes of footage
Gag reel
4 making-of featurettes:
"The Art of Collaboration" - cast and crew
"Profiling a Director" - interview
"Bodies of Evidence" - cast secrets
"Puzzle Within a Puzzle" - with editor Anne V. Coates

Cast of the movie: Taking Lives

• Angelina Jolie .... Illeana
• Ethan Hawke .... Costa
• Kiefer Sutherland .... Hart
• Gena Rowlands .... Mrs. Asher
• Olivier Martinez .... Paquette
• Tchéky Karyo .... Leclair
• Jean-Hugues Anglade .... Duval
• Paul Dano .... Young Asher
• Justin Chatwin .... Matt Soulsby
• André Lacoste .... Cashier
• Billy Two Rivers .... Car Salesman
• Richard Lemire .... Québec City Cop
• Julien Poulin .... Québec City Inspector
• Marie-Josée Croze .... Medical Examiner
• Christian Tessier .... Interrogation Officer
• Brigitte Bedard .... French Reporter
• Dominique Briand .... Bartender
• Alex Sol .... Hotel Manager
• Shawn Roberts .... Desk Clerk
• Martin Brisebois .... Henri Bisonnette
• Gabriel Charland-Gagné .... Victim #1
• Nathalie Matteau .... Victim #2
• Hugh Probyn .... Victim #3
• Henri Pardo .... Officer Mann
• Fabiano Amato .... Waiter
• Judith Baribeau .... Mr. Costa's Assistant
• Anne Marineau .... Woman in Gallery
• Eugenio 'Kiko' Osorio .... Sandra & The Latin Groove
• Jesus Alejandro Nino .... Sandra & The Latin Groove
• Lisandro Martinez .... Sandra & The Latin Groove
• Sandra Campanelli .... Sandra & The Latin Groove
• Emmanuel Bilodeau .... Doctor
• Vince Grant .... Illeana's Hotel Manager
• Freddy Bessa .... Detective Roch
• Andy Bradshaw .... Officer Darabont
• Steven Wallace Lowe .... Man at Moncton Street
• Marcel Jeannin .... Train Man
• Brett Watson .... Clive Morin
• David Eisner .... Committee Head
• Lois Dellar .... Postal Clerk

Photo Gallery of the movie: Taking Lives

Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size high quality photos, posters and wallpapers of Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland

Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland

Reviews of the movie: Taking Lives

While it doesn't rank with such grim classics as The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, D.J. Caruso's Taking Lives offers similarly heavy atmosphere, beginning well before fizzling into absurdity. Freely adapted from the novel by Michael Pye, and set in Montreal (although it was filmed in Quebec City), the plot trades in several familiar tropes of the serial-killer genre, beginning with the FBI agent (Angelina Jolie) who brings her unique skills (and brooding, low-key demeanor) to the vexing case of a killer who, out of apparent self-loathing, steals the identities of his victims and lives their lives until it's time for the next gruesome murder. Ethan Hawke plays the killer's alleged next victim, and in a film filled with twists that grow increasingly unconvincing, Keifer Sutherland is menacingly cast as a shifty suspect. Caruso's previous film was the creepy drug thriller The Salton Sea, so he's well-qualified to infuse Taking Lives with a darkly stylish sense of dread and at least one good shock to keep your adrenaline flowing. The second half essentially betrays the promise of the first, but there's enough going on to hold your interest to the end.