Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Nicole
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
adonis98-743-186503
David Allen Griffin is a cool killer- time and time again, he chooses a female victim, studies her for weeks till he knows her routine to the smallest detail, makes meticulous preparations using his forensic knowledge to gain entry when she's quite alone, subdues her and administers a long, torturous death. Despite the big names such as Spader, Tomei, Hudson and Reeves 'The Watcher' is a poorly made and written thriller that it doesn't define it's storyline or it's characters actions and it's definitely a huge and forgettable disappointment.
NateWatchesCoolMovies
A prevailing thought while viewing The Watcher was that Keanu Reeves is an odd choice to play a lone wolf serial killer, but he actually suits it pretty well. The film itself is muddy and middle of the road, pitting haggard big city cop James Spader against Reeves's beast who takes extreme pleasure in taunting him at every turn. This gets so bad that poor Spader has a breakdown, loses all hope and moves to a different city half across the country. Reeves just can't seem to quit the game though, and follows him right over there for more murderous shenanigans. It's your classic 90's cop vs. killer tale, and for the most part it's not bad. The bleak, nocturnal nightscapes help Reeves creep around and nab his victims as well as provide an oppressive urban atmosphere. It's nice to see casting like this as far as the villain is concerned; so often these killers are played by eccentric, freaky looking character actors or go-to antagonist players, but by casting a golden boy leading man like Keanu they've upturned the trend and made the character more striking. Also, a chiselled babe like him is far more likely to believably lure off girls than some wild eyed, Gary Busey type you'd usually find here. Points for that too. The additional players add class, including Chris Ellis, Ernie Hudson and Marisa Tomei. This one won't go down in history simply because it's in dime-a-dozen territory. There's just too too many cop/killer films from back then, and if one of them doesn't have a key quality to make it stick and endure, it'll fade into obscurity, like Reeves receding back into the inky night after a fresh kill. It's not bad in itself though, if mostly just for him and the urban ambiance he stalks through.
Predrag
"The Watcher" is the most recent addition to a long line of serial killer thriller films, and it does a somewhat commendable job in carrying out its plot. In reality, it is little more than a highly stylized showcase for all of the classic thriller clichés that have become so well-known throughout the last century, taking them and giving them an extra flare by using stunning cinematic tricks, a stellar cast and a pounding soundtrack. I am divided as to whether I like this movie or not: I enjoyed the vast array of shocking and vivid images, while I tended to become a bit bored by the clichés it portrayed throughout. I can't say that I completely hated this film, yet I cannot fully like it, either. The movie begins when FBI agent Joel Campbell begins receiving phone calls and photographs from his arch nemesis, a serial killer whose last alias was that of David Allen Griffin. He takes special care in killing lonely women with piano wire, leaving the scene of the crime with no trace of his identity. Campbell has a personal connection to Griffin: through his flashbacks, we see his attempt to rescue a woman trapped in a burning house, and his relationship to this woman as well as his involvement with Griffin will all be revealed in due time, one of the movie's attributes.Actors for "The Watcher" deliver quality performances that make the movie enjoyable. James Spader plays the delusional detective Joel Campbell, and he does a perfect job in delivering Campbell's emotions when it comes to pursuing his target. We are able to believe in his not wanting to give up despite the effects it may have on him physically and emotionally. Spader plays Campbell as a stern and aggressive character, the character to root for throughout. Keanu Reeves plays his rival, David Allen Griffin, and does one of his better acting jobs here. This is material he was born to play... he possesses wit and a certain twisted charm that is untypical to Griffin's character, and that makes him a better serial killer than most other movies. Oscar winner Marisa Tomei plays therapist Polly Beilman, though she is not really able to display a lot of her talent in this film, as it focuses mainly on the two leads and their physical and psychological battle with one another.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
sol1218
***SPOILERS*** Mix-up serial killer flick involving retired, at age 30, on a disability pension FBI Agent Campbell who gets back to work in trying to find this serial killer Griffin who seems to have gotten or developed a strong emotional connection or tie towards him. It's almost as if the two, Campbell & Griffin, were soul mates or Siamese twins without being psychically connected to each other.Campbell has moved to Chicago from his hometown in L.A to get his mixed-up and confused head back together which has Griffin travel there as well in order to keep up his relationship with him. This all stemmed from a murder that Griffin committed back in L.A, that we see in a number of flash-backs, involving Campbell's girlfriend Lisa Alton whom he was having an illicit, she was married and he wasn't, affair with. Now back in business killing young women Griffin gets Campbell involved in his new string of murders by sending him Fed-X envelopes with photos of his intended victims who's murders Campbell as well as the Chicago Police FBI and local SWAT team are to try to prevent.The movie really goes nowhere with Grffin doing his thing, murdering young women, and being totally immune from capture. Even a number of his on screen victims, Ellie & Jessica, don't as much as even get a hint that their being targeted by Griffin! Even though their photos, those that Griffin sent Campbell, are splashed all over the TV and newspapers as well as police posters. Don't they ever turn on the TV news or read the newspapers? what's even more fascinating is that no one on the street or knows the two, Ellie & Jessica, don't at all recognize them either as Griffin's intended victims. That despite all the publicity they've gotten by the news media to find out who they are and save their lives! ***SPOILERS*** It seems that Campbell's psychiatrist the pretty Dr. Polly Bellman really got under Griffin's skin in him getting jealous of Polly and suspecting that his soul-mate FBI Agent Campbell was having a romantic relationship with her. This has Griffin drop his guard and leave himself open to getting caught by kidnapping Polly and then, by invitation only, having Campbell come to his rat and roach infested hideout, a deserted warehouse on the Chicago South Side, so he can watch helplessly as Griffin sets her on fire and burns her to death! Just like he did to his previous girlfriend the late Lisa Alton back in L.A!Explosive ending with Griffin getting the worst of it when the whole warehouse where he's holding Polly hostage blows up with him becoming a human torch in the process. Campbell-who together with Polly-escaped the carnage but he, after ending up drenched and almost drowned in the chilly waters Lake Michigan, ends up looking as dry as a camel's bone in the Sahara Desert!
