Mr. Brooks - Kevin Costner Showed His Dark Side
Written: Jun 14 '07 (Updated Aug 08 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Well done thriller with good cast.
Cons: Too violent for some. Few slow spots.
The Bottom Line: Mr. Brooks worked very well as a suspenseful movie and is worth seeing, especially for fans of the cast.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Mr. Brooks |
I had been interested in seeing Mr. Brooks from the first time I saw a preview for the movie. Kevin Costner really is't one of my favorite actors, but I will see some of his movies if I think they look interesting.
I consider Mr. Brooks to be a suspenseful thriller type of movie. I don’t want to say too much about the plot and spoil the movie for anyone else. Because of that, I will only be mentioning a few things that had been made clear in the trailer when I discuss the plot. I will be vague about certain other things I discuss later in the review as well. People who haven’t seen the trailers and don’t want to know anything about the plot before watching the movie should skip the next paragraph.
Earl Brooks just received a man of the year award with his loving wife Emma looking on. He was trying to fight the urge to kill while Marshall kept encouraging him, saying how fun it would be. Earl gave in and killed a couple that night. The next day, a man calling himself Mr. Smith, turned up at Earl’s office asking for a meeting. Earl was shocked to see that Mr. Smith had photographs of Earl at the murder scene and wanted to go along on the next murder. Earl had to deal with Marshall and a few family issues that popped up when his daughter Jane came home from college. Detective Tracey Atwood was working on the investigation and seemed to be obsessed with solving it.
Mr. Brooks was a well done psychological thriller. It was one of the better ones that I have seen in a while. There was some suspense in the movie and several things happened that I didn’t expect. There was a little bit of mystery, but it wasn’t anything too complicated. The mystery and suspense that was included in the movie kept things interesting. Most of the movie was dealing with Earl and his need to kill. His meticulous planning was also shown. It wasn’t stated specifically why he did it, but enough was shown to let the audience figure that part out. His unique relationship with Marshall, which was tied to the killings, was explored a bit as well. There wasn’t any explanation for when Earl had first started killing or even why he had started doing it. I would have liked a little more information on that, but it didn’t make me like the movie any less.
It was shared very early in the movie, and even in the trailers, that Earl had a secret life as a killer. His wife Emma seemed to be completely oblivious about his other activities. He was shown committing murders and those scenes were graphic. Some were more violent and graphic than others. There was a lot of blood and the bodies of the victims were shown. It wasn’t pleasant to see and will upset some viewers. This isn’t a movie for people who don’t like violence or blood. The movie definitely deserved to be rated R and it isn’t a movie that children of any age should see. In addition to all the violence, there was a lot of swearing by several characters. Variations of the word that rhymes with luck seemed to be the preferred obscenity. There was a very short sex scene early in the movie when Earl first arrived at the house to kill his intended victims. The woman was shown completely naked from the front in a few brief shots. During another scene, Earl was shown naked from behind. There were a lot of shadows in that scene, but I still could have done without seeing that.
A few minor subplots were introduced throughout Mr. Brooks that really didn’t seem to serve much point. There did seem to be some potential with one of them. Unfortunately it just didn’t get enough attention to be fully developed. It seemed like it was introduced just to raise a few questions and push Earl into doing something and then that was that. Two other subplots were connected to another character that were really pointless. I think they were supposed to flesh out that other character more, but they failed. The scenes dealing with the different subplots did slow the pace of the movie down, so some people could feel that those part dragged.
One scene that happened around the middle of the movie was completely unnecessary and pointless. A character had been involved in a confrontation that left them injured and requiring stitches. Not only was the character shown getting those stitches, but there was a close up of the wound and the stitches being put in. When that character turned up in scenes for the rest of the movie, there was no bandage or indication that the stitches were there at all. That was a minor thing, but I did notice it. I was also bothered by some shaky camera work during two scenes as well as weird lighting in the second one. Those things made it very hard to see what was going on. I hate when that is done.
Mr. Brooks was very focused on Earl and how he was dealing with several things going on in his life, including committing a double murder. Earl was a very successful business man that had started his own box company. He was happily married and had a daughter, but he still felt like he needed to murder even though he said more than once that he wanted to stop. Earl was a complex man and it wasn’t always clear how his mind worked. That was part of what made the movie so interesting. The dynamic between Earl and Marshall was very intriguing and well done. I think this was probably one of Kevin Costner’s better performances. He was totally believable as the twisted Earl. The part was very different from the one he played in The Guardian and Rumor Has It. William Hurt had a little less to do but he was very good in the part.
Emma was almost a non character. She was only around in a few scenes, usually in the background in some way. It seemed like she would be around more at first since she was in several of the first scenes. The fact that she really wasn’t doing much of anything in those scenes should have been a bit hint. She briefly turned up in a few other scenes to talk to Earl or wake up when Earl finally went to bed. She really added nothing to the movie and Marg Helgenberger had nothing to do. Jane arrived home from college and then was only around in a couple of scenes after that. Danielle Panabaker had a much larger part in Sky High and Yours, Mine and Ours (2005).
Mr. Smith was the man who had taken pictures of Earl at the murder scene. Instead of contacting the police, Mr. Smith wanted to force Earl into taking him along on a future murder. It really wasn’t clear why he wanted to do that. Mr. Smith was very important to the plot, but he really wasn’t developed that much. He wasn’t unlikable but he really wasn’t likable either. Dane Cook handled the pat very well. I wasn’t sure how well he’d do with a more serious part since I’ve only known him as a comedian and have only seen him in Employee of the Month before this. He managed to keep from being obnoxious and annoying.
Tracey Atwood was a dedicated, even obsessed cop. She went around acting tough and didn’t follow procedures more than once. She was good at her job, but she seemed to have no life away from her job, so there was no balance for her. I think she was written that way to make her seem more dedicated. I don’t think it really worked though. Instead of seeming to be hard working and devoted to her job, she came across as extremely arrogant and really wasn’t that likable to me. Also, I didn’t think the explanation for why Tracey became a cop was good enough to explain how she acted. I’ve never been a fan of Demi Moore and nothing about her performance in this movie has changed my mind. It wasn’t that she was horrible in the part. There just wasn’t anything that great about it either.
Main Cast
Dane Cook - Mr. Smith
Kevin Costner - Earl Brooks
Marg Helgenberger - Emma Brooks
William Hurt - Marshall
Demi Moore - Tracey Atwood
Danielle Panabaker - Jane Brooks
Bruce A. Evans - Director
Mr. Brooks was a very entertaining psychological thriller. There were a few minor issues that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the movie. It is definitely work seeing.
Recommended:
Yes
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