Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15408 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English, German, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Icelandic, Swedish, Hungarian, Polish, Arabic, Dutch, Finnish, Croatian, Czech, Greek
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Released in late 1999, The Bone Collector was originally promoted as a thriller in the tradition of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, suggesting that it would earn a place among those earlier, better films. Nice try, but no cigar. The Bone Collector settles instead for mere competence and the modest rewards of a well-handled formula. With a terrific cast at his service, director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games) turns the pulpy indulgence of Jeffery Deaver's novel into a slick potboiler that is grisly fun only if you don't pick it apart.

Noyce expertly builds palpable tension around a series of gruesome murders that lead us into the darkest nooks of New York City.

Now a bedridden quadriplegic prone to life-threatening seizures and suicidal depression, forensics detective Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) gets a new lease on life with a sharp young beat cop (Angelina Jolie) who's a wizard at analyzing crime scenes. She does field work while he deciphers clues from his high-tech Manhattan loft, and as they narrow the search their lives are increasingly endangered. As this formulaic plot grows mouldy, Noyce resorts to narrative shortcuts, using perfunctory scenes to manipulate the viewer and taking morbid pleasure in his revelation of the murder scenes. And yet it all works, to a point, and the cast (including Queen Latifah and Luiz Guzmán) is much better than the material. If you're looking for a few good thrills, The Bone Collector is a pretty safe bet. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Original Theatrical Trailers
Cast And Director Interviews
Directors Commentary
Isolated Score
Filmographies
Arabic\Croatian\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish\Turkish

Synopsis
In Phillip Noyce's gripping thriller, Denzel Washington is Lincoln Rhyme, a decorated New York City police officer and successful author of crime novels. After a freak accident on the job, Rhyme is left paralyzed from the neck down (except for his index finger). Angelina Jolie is Amelia Donaghy, a troubled cop who finds herself caught up in the investigation of a brutal serial killer. With the help of the bed-ridden Rhyme, she enters a dangerous world that threatens to add her to the killer's list.

Customer Reviews

No skeletons in this closet...
What surprised me most about this film was Angelina Jolie. I think she is an amazing actress, but most of her roles are cocky, energetic people who are assured of herself. I couldn't believe she could pull off playing a rookie cop...but she does, and she does it well!

In fact, kudos to the acting all around here. Denzel Washington does very well considering his character, Rhyme, is bed-ridden, and Luis Guzman is cast against type here, which is a refreshing watch.

The only thing that is not refreshing about this film, however, is the occasionally stale character stereotypes and plot cliches.

It's the usual murderer killing spree, which the police have to stop before the next murder, thanks to the killer leaving some handy clues. The actual murder sites are interesting viewing, as we watch Jolie investigate, with Washington advising her over the radio. These scenes are well set up, occasionally creepy, and quite tense.

But the film can hit boring patches inbetween the murder sites that really drag. Coupled with the occasional stilted, cliched dialogue, these things really let the film down.

Still, it has a cracking ending, with a few surprises on the way, and people will keep guessing all the way through. Which is good, because the pay-off is really great...

Superbit - YES. Movie - NO
Superbit technology really does make DVD a sharper medium - not that it has any big drawbacks to begin with. But superbit sharpens images to an incredible extent, and all films, including the Bone Collector, benefit from bringing more of the ambient mood to the screen by showing you the background and foreground in greater detail. Great.

Angelina Jolie looks her usual incredible self and the movie is worth watching just to see her. Unfortunately, she is the only good bit of the film. The script is appalling. The motivation behind the murders is weak. And the worst bit (I'm sure I won't be spoiling it if I tell you this) is how Denzel's character manages to fight off an attacker and more or less, wins. 'No big deal' you might think... 'par for the course' you may also reasonably assume... except that Denzel's character is paralysed from the neck down and he's fighting an able-bodied, rational (ish) and highly motivated/angry opponent. This movie doesn't just ask you to leave your brain in the "standby" position, but to have it removed, shredded and burned. Honestly -- it's so painful to watch. I would advise you don't even rent this title, but if you HAVE to see it, please don't buy it.

It isn't Se7en, but then it isn't supposed to be...
This is a superior thriller chiefly because it is unconventional - the crimes themselves are not the main focus of the story. They are, in a sense, the McGuffin that explains how the two main characters are brought together for a human story. Due to this the film does suffer in comparison to the recent classics of it's supposed genre...but you would have to a long, long way to surpass Se7en or Silence of the Lambs - and wisely perhaps the emphasis in the film isn't on that aspect. Washington and Jolie perform admirably - as you expect of them - and the lack of chemistry that is referred to in some reviews was not apparent to me. Surely the point of the human story is that he is trying to make her more than she thinks she can be - and for a good part of the film she resists that - resists being made into a version of him. The point was not to make the viewer believe that there was a sexual chemistry - at least for me - so I was not upset by the seeming lack of this. Amelia is fascintaed with Ryhmes - not falling in love with him. The supporting cast are of a high quality and if I had to quibble with the film I would argue that the final scene is a smaltzy hollywood cop-out.

In summary if you approach this film without trying to compare it to Se7en et al, you will get far more out of it. Equally if you have read the book you may be disappointed. I haven't but generally I am disappointed with the filmed versions of 99% of books. Accept that a director has two hours (or less) to play with whilst the narrative of a novel would typically take maybe 3 or 4 hours to screen in full and the diappointment fades. After the heinous sin that was "The Saint" Phillip Noyce produces his best work since Dead Calm.