The Killer Inside Me
Oscar nominated actor Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) gives his most chilling performance yet in the controversial crime drama The Killer Inside Me. Co-starring Jessica Alba (Good Luck Chuck), Oscar nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Emmy nominee Simon Baker (TV's The Mentalist) and Bill Pullman (Independence Day), this modern-day film noir shows a small town sheriff up to his neck in murders: his own. When Affleck's sheriff is asked to railroad a talkative prostitute out of town before she makes trouble, he realizes it's easier to just get rid of her for good. Unfortunately, covering up that murder means eliminating more and more people as his problems and complications spiral out of control. Even worse, he's starting to enjoy committing the crimes a lot more than he ever enjoyed dishing out the punishment. Based on the pulp fiction classic by Jim Thompson (The Grifters), The Killer Inside Me is "an assured, stylish film" [Guardian UK] that reveals the danger when a lawman's badge is hiding a cold, cold heart.
Member Reviews
Predictable - valdezzz
This movie does have an irksome predictability about it, leading to a disappointing finale of pursuit similar to a thousand other movies. This film hasn’t developed the desired ability to massage the ideal amount of complication out of the screenplay, and while passably engaging and even semi-poignant, it just doesn’t contain the urgency to sufficiently rouse the senses.Enter The Mind Of A Sociopath - c4th
The Killer Inside Me is made to disturb and does it in spades. Every one of us sees our own actions as suitable and this movie portrays the sadistic and brutally violent behaviour of a sociopath from that perspective. The violence in this movie is viewed through the eyes of the only person that perceives it as acceptable.
We observe the main character driven to brutally beat a lady to death while being apologetic. What needs to be done is clear to him while we cannot comprehend his motive. Throughout the movie, Deputy Sherriff Lou Ford covers his tracks with an increasing body count trying to keep his violent tendencies under cover but continues to play the southern gold old boy familiar to townspeople. The entire plot is viewed from the perspective of the crazed main character and director Michael Winterbottom does an excellent job of displaying some quite disturbing scenes with a certain bluntness of mood expected from a sociopath. The closing scene is a bit troublesome for some viewers. It is incredulous unless we assume it doesn’t really occur as shown. Remember we are seeing everything through the mind of the killer inside Ford.
Casey Affleck plays the lead, who is present during every moment of the film. He does well portraying an individual embodied by two diametrically opposed personas but I do have to raise a complaint about his allocution. His soft raspy voice can be hard to understand at the best of times, but add to that a broken southern drawl and his dialogue becomes unintelligible at times. The remaining cast, which includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute, Kate Hudson as the girlfriend, Ned Beatty as a business mogul, and Elias Koteas as a union bigwig all performed solidly.
If you are prepared for some disturbing violence, particularly against women and are intrigued by a movie that attempts to give us a glimpse of the killer inside a psychopathic murderer, give this a view.As dark as they come. - cathyottawa
Often, when we see sociopaths or psychopaths portrayed in a film, they are glamourized in some way. We are made to root for them, or see them as a dark hero of some kind, or at the very least, be intrigued by them.
This film turns that on it's head. It says, "you want to see a true psychopath? Here you go...". Lou Ford isn't cool. He isn't compelling. He's just a very sick individual.
We see him commit brutal murders, which are portrayed with gut churning realism. No slick soundtrack. No Tarantino style aestheticized violence. No relief, comic or otherwise. Just horrific savagery that will turn your stomach.
I kind of admired this choice. I felt like it was a wake up call of sorts to people who think serial killers are cool; it was stripping away the facade and revealing the true monster.
I also didn't find this to be misogynistic. I had no doubt that, had it served his purpose, the violence towards the men would have been no less brutal, and it certainly wasn't far fetched that he found two women who would indulge his spanking fetish.
My problem with the movie fell largely with the script, which had the story coming solely from Lou, our narrator and killer. We never get a moments respite from this dark, icky character; nor do we learn all that much about him.
Imagine Silence of the Lambs told only from Hannibal Lector's point of view. I can imagine this film told from the point of view of **slight spoiler** the detective that brings Lou down, and I can see a much better film.
Also - that ending. It's just so over the top far fetched. I might have given this three stars if not for that.
And on a technical note - Casey Affleck mumbles his way through the film in such a way as to make much of his dialogue unintelligible. It made it difficult to follow the plot.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Predictable - valdezzz
This movie does have an irksome predictability about it, leading to a disappointing finale of pursuit similar to a thousand other movies. This film hasn’t developed the desired ability to massage the ideal amount of complication out of the screenplay, and ...Enter The Mind Of A Sociopath - c4th
The Killer Inside Me is made to disturb and does it in spades. Every one of us sees our own actions as suitable and this movie portrays the sadistic and brutally violent behaviour of a sociopath from that perspective. The violence in this movie is viewed ...As dark as they come. - cathyottawa
Often, when we see sociopaths or psychopaths portrayed in a film, they are glamourized in some way. We are made to root for them, or see them as a dark hero of some kind, or at the very least, be intrigued by them.
This film turns that on it's head. ...