CORPORATE LINE: It’s 4 AM and torrents of rain pour down on a dusty roadside New Mexico diner. Inside, an innocuous looking salesman sips coffee while catching up on his fishing magazines. After the front door creaks open, an unusual looking man startles the salesman by sitting down at his table and displaying frightening drawings that send the salesman fleeing for the safety of his car.
We meet Agent Thomas Mackelway on his first day of work at the Albuquerque field office of the FBI. Mackelway, wrestling with secrets and demons from his past, is plagues by headaches and feels that he is being watched. And in fact he is… but by whom?
Mackelway finds himself mysteriously drawn into a bizarre series of murders: the salesman from the diner found dead in his car on the deserted New Mexico border; a sixth grade teacher from Boulder, Co. discovered in an abandoned vehicle in the diner parking lot; and Mackelay’s own personal nemesis, killed while attacking a young girl. Mackelway’s former partner, Fran Kulok, who knows Mackelway’s deepest secrets, is sent to Albuquerque to assist him on the case. Together, they set out to solve this lethal puzzle. What do these murders have in common?
The case becomes increasingly personal as Mackelway’s determination turns to obsession. The killer seems to be taunting him, faxing him hundreds of maddening, chilling clues, all of which point to a cunning renegade named Benjamin O’Ryan. Trained in a secret government remote viewing program which enabled five elite agents to get into the hearts and minds of killers and their victims, O’Ryan became consumed with tracking the ultimate manifestation of a killer — Suspect Zero.
THE GOOD: It was apparent early on what O’Ryan was up to. What was difficult was
figuring out why he was doing it. Both Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley turn in fantastic performances. Kinglsey is frightening and steals the entire movie. I hate to admit it but the better film would have been learning about O’Ryan and how he got to this point. Not O’Ryan at this point in time.
THE BAD: Suspect Zero moves much too slowly. Certainly its dark enough and, I can’t speak for every other viewer, but I didn’t want to see the crimes however seeing anything that helped move this along faster would have been a God send.
Suspect Zero is still full of clichés such as dropping keys at the car door when you want to get away. And then there is the way O’Ryan works and how. There is no ‘wow’ factor instead you get an ‘I’m supposed to believe that?’ It’s a bit more sci-fi than it is drama.
FRANKLY: Suspect Zero is chilling and a daft thriller. The problem is that Suspect Zero hangs its hat on an unbelievable plot.
+ Charlie Craine
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