Noyce, who directed the Tom Clancy adaptations Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger as well as the 1997 Val Kilmer remake of The Saint, is not the type of director suited for this material. His inclination toward an up-tempo atmosphere and kinetic, fast-paced action sequences is inescapable, especially during the movie's slower scenes. Consequently, he and screenwriter Jeremy Iacone tip the movie's hand too early. They include scenes involving the serial killer and his pray almost immediately, where the thrillers to which The Bone Collector is likened -- Seven and The Silence of the Lambs -- did not introduce their antagonists until much later in the running time. This misstep reduces the movie to a simple cat-and-mouse level, hardly the match of either of the two works previously referenced.

      Tracking the serial killer are former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) and rookie patrol officer Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie). His work is brought to their attention when Amelia is alerted to a man's corpse buried near some train tracks in her precinct, which upon further investigation yields clues to the next murder in the series. This last conviction is made by Rhyme, a quadriplegic officer rendered nearly helpless in an accident on the job some years earlier. But while his body may be useless, his mind is not, and he quickly deduces a pattern in the clues left by the killer.

      Rhyme and Donaghy have the help of the NYPD's Crime Scene Unit, including friends and fellow officers Eddie Ortiz (Luis Guzman) and Paulie Sellitto (Ed O'Neill). But working against them is a strict timeline, set by the killer, and the precinct's captain, Howard Cheney (Michael Rooker), who believes that Rhyme and Donaghy shouldn't be handling the case.

      Introducing this plot device is perhaps the most painfully ignorant move that Mr. Iacone makes in penning his script. The meddling superior is overdone as well as cumbersome, especially given the specifics of the case and the people involved. Rhyme and Donaghy are making obvious progress, and it might be much more plausible for Captain Cheney to yield to their endeavors in the interests of solving the case quickly and bettering the image of his precinct. But the script has him making the illogical move of stalling forward motion of the plot.

      Rhyme and Donaghy themselves are typical officers, especially in their relationship to one another. Jolie's role as the young, inexperienced, female officer parallels that of Jodie Foster's role in The Silence of the Lambs, but Ms. Foster is easily a far better actress as well as more suited to the disposition. The serial killer's nature, both in his superior, taunting nature and his habit of leaving hints behind at the orchestrated crime scenes reproduces some of the tense drama of Seven, but in its resolution David Fincher's film was much more realistic.

      Somehow between all of these miscues, The Bone Collector ends up being perhaps twenty to thirty minutes too long. It does not budget its time nor does it make efficient use of it, rendering the rear quarters of many an audience member numb in its ponderously ill-witted execution. Although it is perhaps mildly enjoyable as a run-of-the-mill suspense, the oft-spouted Universal Pictures quote unwittingly advertises two much better films. Those are where the true scares are to be found.

Craig Roush, 1999