Storyline The film starts in the early 1980s.Young Martin Asher took a bus for Canada.He meets another teen on the bus Matt Soulsby.When the bus broke they decided to rent a car and drive to Seattle.On the road the car gets a flat tire,and Matt starts changing the tire Martin comments on how he and Matt are about the same height and he quickly pushes Matt in the way of an oncoming truck causing a huge accident where Matt and the driver both die.He took Matt's guitar and left singing like Matt did. Twenty years later,a FBI profiler,Illeana Scott comes to Canada to help hunting down a serial killer Martin Asher who killed multiple men and lived by their identities.Martin's mother claims that she saw Martin in Quebec city and she tells the police that Martin is evil. The police also has an eyewitness James Costa who saw Asher kill his last victim...
Writers: Michael Pye, Jon Bokenkamp
Cast: Angelina Jolie
-
Illeana
Ethan Hawke
-
Costa
Kiefer Sutherland
-
Hart
Gena Rowlands
-
Mrs. Asher
Olivier Martinez
-
Paquette
Tchéky Karyo
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Leclair
Jean-Hugues Anglade
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Duval
Paul Dano
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Young Asher
Justin Chatwin
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Matt Soulsby
André Lacoste
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Cashier
Billy Two Rivers
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Car Salesman
Richard Lemire
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Québec City Cop
Julien Poulin
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Québec City Inspector
Marie-Josée Croze
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Medical Examiner
Christian Tessier
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Interrogation Officer
Filming Locations: Chemin du Lac, Knowlton's Landing, Québec, Canada
Box Office Details
Budget: $45,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $11,458,465
(USA)
(21 March 2004)
(2705 Screens)
Gross: $65,470,529
(Worldwide)
(29 August 2004)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
USA:
(unrated version)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Screenwriters Nicholas Kazan, Hillary Seitz and David Ayer worked on revisions for Jon Bokenkamp's script.
Goofs:
Continuity:
After colliding with Matt, the grill on the Suburban truck is broken. In the next shot, the truck is launched and spiraling in the air the grill is intact.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Cashier:
Where are you going?
User Review
undistinguished thriller
Rating: 4/10
"Taking Lives" is a standard-issue, run-of-the-mill thriller about a
serial killer and the FBI agent determined to capture him. When bodies
start piling up in the Montreal area, the agent - an expert in serial
killer profiling - is brought in to assist the local authorities in
finding the culprit. The perpetrator's modus operandi is to target men
roughly his own age and build, murder them in cold blood, then assume
their identities. Once he grows tired of living their lives, he
proceeds to his next victim. Ethan Hawke plays a man who's witnessed
the most recent of the killings and who may now be next in line on the
man's hit list.
"Taking Lives" sticks pretty much within the confines of its overworked
genre. We have the disgruntled local cop who resents interference from
a hotshot outsider; the prime suspect who turns out to be just another
of the killer's many victims; and the double twist resolution which
really isn't all that hard to see coming twenty minutes or so into the
movie. Jolie gives her usual wooden performance as the FBI agent,
barely managing to register a single convincing emotion throughout the
course of the film. Hawke does his best with the material, though there
really isn't much he can do with it apart from going through the
motions, which he does reasonably well. Gena Rowlands and Keefer
Sutherland are also on hand to lend their talents, but since their
roles are fairly miniscule, they don't have much of a chance to display
their wares as actors.
Although watchable, "Taking Lives" feels like a weak-spined,
half-hearted effort in an already played-out genre. It is an instantly
forgettable film.
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