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good back-story, and good acting

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Incredibly sloppy filmmaking with little to no original ideas. The amount of goofy screw ups is unreal and the film has aged very poorly. This is 100% Angelina Jolie worship with aspects of many other crime/murder/thriller movies thrown in as background noise. Watch Se7en or Zodiac instead.

"A serial killer is on the road, killing and taking over lives of his victims. Time is ticking down before he claims his next victim and identity"Right from the beginning, I liked this movie. The two actors who we're introduced to are Justin Chatwin and Paul Dano. Dano would go onto to play a role in the 2013 film Prisoners in a very similar role while Chatwin would go on to ruin my CHILDHOOD!!! Uhhhumm. Excuse me.The introduction to this movie lulls you into a sense of comfort but then violently shifts you into how a majority of the rest of the film will be played out. Starts with two great actors, great music and a real sense of out in the wilderness with no one around. The opening credits has a very Se7en feel to it and the introduction and some of the settings and dialogue that comes up in the first third of the film is very reminiscent to Silence of the Lambs.Basic premise of the movie is Asher (Dano) kills people he watches and stalks and assumes their identity. He keeps jumping from person to person trying to leave his former life behind. Angelina Jolie plays an FBI agent who is brought in to help profile and catch the killer. Ethan Hawke plays a character who is brought in for questioning after he witnesses someone being killed. After the first half hour/45 minutes, the movie begins to lose some of it's luster in my opinion with me. I understand that it needs to progress and the plot needs to advance but placing your number one witness in a club to lure out a potential serial killer isn't the best idea.The movie's false ending (Yeah, you read that right. If you haven't picked up on the twist yet, you're not paying attention) culminates with what appears to be the killer kidnapping Hawke's character and leading cops on a high speed chase which ends in a car accident where the killer dies. Everything seems like it is cleared up and Angelina Jolie falls for the victim. At the hospital, the killer's mother comes to verify the body but says the the dead person isn't her son. Hawke then murders his mother in an elevator and escapes. That's right, Ethan Hawke was the killer all along.The movie really ends with Jolie being kicked out of the FBI, pregnant with Hawke's babies and living on her own in Pennsylvania. Hawke tracks her down to rekindle their romance but ultimately decides to try to kill Jolie. He stabs her in the stomach but finds out that she really isn't pregnant when she removes the scissors and stabs him with them. She tells him that the past 7 months had all been a ploy to get him to come back out of hiding.I really liked the first half hour or so of this movie. As I said above, it felt gritty and dirty and something you could accept as the next chapter in the Hannibal saga. I really like FBI profiler and in depth agent movies like this, Red Dragon and Mindhunters where killers motives are questioned and they try to find out why it's happening but also find the killer at the same time.Something that is almost as good as that is Angelina Jolie. I never really thought of her as super sexy or anything but this movie has pushed me over to the other side. I have been missing out on her sex appeal and it was top notch in this movie. Thinking almost the entire movie "Man, she is super sexy" and "I'd definitely would want to get with her" we are actually paid off and she a nude scene with her around 1 hour and 11 minutes in (You're welcome!)What I didn't like was the ending. By about 40 minutes left, if you hadn't already figured out the ending for the most part, it is thrown right in your face. I didn't really like that they put a face on who you thought could be the killer. By casting Keifer Sutherland in a role where it looked like he was the killer and to do it so early in the movie cut out some of the intrigue. I loved not knowing who the killer could be. Asher took on so many identities he could be anyone. They even still played with this at the very end when the French Canadian Cop had that stick in his mouth and took it out seemingly to tie it in a fashion like Jolie found in Asher's mothers house.I felt like the ending should have been abrupt and left us shocked. Instead, it happened, then explained itself, then let that marinate and finally decided "Ok, now here's the payoff". In reality, we didn't need payoff. The Asher character was good because we 'didn't know' who it was and it could end up being anyone. He has for years been able to just slip in and out of lives without ever being caught and that's how I felt it should have ended. The actual ending is not bad and was even a good twist but in this movie, it didn't seem like it was needed.I'll say watch this movie if you're really into serial killer movies and like seeing their personality examined. Plus, you get boobs. Really hot and sexy boobs. Just saying.

I normally don't watch movies like this but after watching it I believe this movie should be considered a classic of the suspense/thriller genre. It is a great thriller with lots of plot twists. If the length scares you, find time for this movie; while it is lengthy, it has a good story line and great actors. Angelina Jolie is her usual "out-there" character: an FBI agent assisting in a case in Canada. Ethan Hawke plays an artist who witnesses a crime committed by the serial killer being investigated. Also among the cast are local French-Canadian police officers. This movie keeps you guessing. The characters are wonderful. Greatly consider watching this movie.

This starts in 1983 St Jovite, young Martin Asher (Paul Dano) viciously kills a man. After the opening credit, the movie goes to today in Montreal. The police have Costa (Ethan Hawke) in custody who says he's witnessed a murder that bares a striking resemblance to the one earlier. Olivier Martinez is one of the cops who suspects Costa is hiding something. FBI special agent Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is brought in to profile. They eventually settle on another suspect played by Kiefer Sutherland.The opening made a mistake. It's not clear enough that the first murder happened in the past. Flashing the dates for 2 seconds is not enough. I missed it, and I couldn't figure out the start at the first viewing. Paul Dano bears no resemblance to Ethan Hawke. So it was hard to figure out why the audience is given clues that Ethan Hawke is the killer.And there are a lot of little mistakes. Angelina Jolie is trying too hard to be that quirky FBI profiler type with the far away stare. There are too many clues, and too many obvious clues. There is good mood being put down, but there are too many little problems to overlook.