Murder by Numbers (2002)

This could have been very good. Good actors, an exciting plot, quite uorginal script etc etc. The movie also starts well. Two students with sociopathic characters agree to commit the perfect murder. They then conduct a killing and the investigation is under way. All of this is presented to us. To make the film work after this, we depend on a good direction and surprises. This does not happen. However a lot of unlikely, silly things happen. We are being presented to an investigator who suddenly has major social problems, without this having any significance or adding anything to the film. There are also strange things, such as the investigator taking revealing pictures of the suspects, and then being harassed by one of them. Something that results in some kind of breakdown. Very strange. When this happens in the movie, I lose the last lasting interest. Too bad. A lost opportunity. A better script would certainly have helped

Murder by Numbers (2002): Dir: Barbet Schroeder / Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Chris Penn: Clever psychological thriller about the planning and dispatching of murder. The killers in question are two high school students who are at the top of their education yet they share a bond that has them kidnap a young woman. Her body is found the following day and Sandra Bullock is assigned to the case along with her by-the-book partner played by Ben Chaplin. She is known for her instincts in solving cases but she is burdened by a past incident. Effective and provocative setup travels by formula until it hits a surprising conclusion. Director Barbet Schroeder details the film with information. He previously made another superb thriller called Single White Female. Excellent work by Bullock as a troubled police woman who ultimately brings down the case with grim discoveries. Chaplin is merely there for romantic possibilities in a role that is complete cardboard. Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt steal the film as the teenage suspects whose highlights comes at the conclusion where information takes an interesting turn and in unexpected ways. Chris Penn also shows up but he has been more interesting in other films. Well made thriller that tackles issues regarding teenagers and media influence that seem to be increasing by the numbers. Score: 8 ½ / 10

Much like director Barbet Schroeder's previous work Desperate Measures, Murder by Numbers features compelling villains and uneven writing. Two high school students (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt) commit a murder to push their poorly digested Nietzsche beyond mere parlour games; a troubled detective (Sandra Bullock) investigates them.It's basically a Dostoevsky-lite thriller/character study, and an obvious homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, homosexual subtext included. What elevates it above mediocrity are the stellar performances by Gosling and Pitt as the young sociopaths, the former as a slick, aggressive manipulator, the latter as a smug intellectual. Far more conventional is Bullock's cynical cop.Worth one viewing.6/10

It amazes me how writers continue to come up with interesting and different plots for thrillers and Murder By Numbers is no exception. I suppose we, the viewers, are bound to get "involved" with the story - I know I do. Like: are there actual people like Richard (Ryan Gosling) and Justin (Michael Pitt) out there somewhere who see getting away with the most heinous crime of all as just the ultimate challenge? If there are - and I believe there are - then how do they overcome the urges that drive them? And, when they don't, unless there is a cop like Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock), how do they ever get caught? And then, when they don't get caught because their decoy - in this case, Ray Feathers (Sean Penn's lesser-known brother Chris) - is dead and cannot be cross-examined, where are they now? Do they live next door? Are they the guy at the next desk or machine where you work or the rich kid in your class at school?Money isn't always a blessing. Especially when all it does is cause the sort of boredom that drives a person to psychosis like that portrayed in this movie.Not a movie I would recommend to a nervous girl to watch alone. She could just end up a paranoiac who is scared to go out, even in broad daylight.Who's watching you right now? And, even more to the point, why? OK, I think you need to go and check your mailbox now girls. Sweet dreams.