Suspect Zero (2004)

Demoted for not following police procedure, aspirin-popping FBI agent Aaron Eckhart (as Thomas "Tom" Mackelway) has his hands full with the opening murder committed by creepy Ben Kingsley (as Benjamin O'Ryan). Apparently, Mr. Kingsley likes to kill people and cut off their eyelids. It's all part of an elaborate plot involving serial killers. The story is engrossing, but it leaves you feeling lost. The first killing scene does not allow space in the editing for the perpetrator to be in the victim's car. The tailgater is enough to redirect attention. This opens the door to the supernatural being involved; definitely a consideration, but one addressed later in the film. Everything eventually makes some sense, but it does feels like a cheat, especially when one character takes the other prisoner.***** Suspect Zero (8/27/04) E. Elias Merhige ~ Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harry Lennix

FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway violates serial killer Raymond Starkey's civil rights during an unorthodox arrest, Starkey goes free and Mackelway is demoted to a remote branch of the agency in Albuquerque. Mackelway investigates the murder of a travelling salesman Harold Speck, which turns out to be the first of three seemingly random killings. Or perhaps they are not random at all; the last to die is Raymond Starkey. The assignment consumes him. The case becomes increasingly gruesome and patently personal. This does not go unnoticed by his partner, who knows of Mackelway's past and the demons that afflict him. Like Mackelway, she becomes drawn into the labyrinth of chilling clues, all of which point to the enigmatic Benjamin O'Ryan. O'Ryan clearly has a connection to the killings and he may also harbour a sinister link to Mackelway.This is one of those films that has been hanging around for years and never really had a wide release, despite the fact that it has a really intriguing synopsis,and has Kingsley in it.Now I know why, and with the Kingsley factor, you sometimes forget he was in Species, Sound of Thunder, and other pap.The film just takes too long to get going, and after the impressive opening, it just goes downhill way to fast.Eckhardt does his best With the awful, clichéd script, and he, just like the film, becomes very annoying before the stupid revelation. Moss looks bored post 'Matrix', and Kingsley hams it up more than a pantomime dame.It's boring, predictable and a waste of time.

In the world of suspense and drama, there are all sorts of sub-genre. File this one under psychic possibilities. Aaron Eckhart is a troubled man, a disgraced agent who the agency has decided can keep his badge, as long as he accepts a post in a remote station, out of the spotlight. Beside the stigma of being an agent who lost control and violated a suspects rights, he has headaches. Constant, severe headaches. And they aren't getting better. His supervisor is used to seeing this kind of agent, he knows the drill, probably left in charge of this office from a past problem of his own. I've read other reviews that seem to pan this film, and I have to agree it is not for everyone. The premise is unnerving, to say the least. And it is based to some extent in truth. There was a time when the U. S. government conducted experiments in Remote Viewing, a psychic phenomena where people with no prior knowledge of an area are tasked to report on things that are occurring in an enemy camp. The government has said this project was abandoned, since it proved to produce less than accurate results. But what of the remote viewers who were accurate? What happens to someone who is taught to look into the minds of serial killers and is never taught how to turn it off? Ben Kingsley gives a haunting performance as Ben O'Ryan, a former remote viewer now turned serial killer. Aaron Eckhart is the disgraced agent, targeted by O'Ryan to replace him. It's a film worth watching once if you are a believer in psychic phenomena. Otherwise, you might want to look for something else.

THE BACKGROUNDThe premise of this movie involves government experiments with "remote viewing" as a defense weapon during the cold war with USSR. And yes, the military (Pentagon) was experimenting with all kinds of bizarre experimental methodologies that not only mimicked the Russians but were often of their own creation. Remote viewing allows someone to "view" another place and time in their mind.Therefore, this movie really is a product of those paranoiac behaviors.EXTRASAnd it is a good one at that. You know the plot by now, so watch the movie. And do NOT miss the extras which explore quantum mechanics and the concept of zero, in which we are all interconnected by a miasma of energy.SERIAL KILLERS Everyone seems to try and "understand' the mind of a serial killer. Was it his/her background, talk shows, movies, the news, books, political parties, video games and on and on.REALITY Truth IS: Sly Stallone summed up the real deal with serial killers in TANGO AND CASH, where he confronts a killer, TANGO: :You are the disease and I am the cure". He then proceeds to shoot him. Quippy but accurate.