Mr. Brooks Review

Bottom-Line: When all is said and done Mr. Brooks is a movie well worth seeing if for nothing more than to see Costner don a new suit of theatrical clothing.        

If ever there were a picture of the wholesome American male in the dictionary few men would be able to pose; most assuredly Denzel Washington and Kevin Costner would qualify.  That is why it is so (refreshingly) surprising to see Costner portray a serial killer in Mr. Brooks.  But I say it is about time Costner (Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) threw down the hero's gauntlet, and picked up instead the Devil's pitchfork as it were. 

Written and directed by Bruce Evans (Kuffs 1992), and co-produced by Kevin Costner, Mr. Brooks is chilling look into the mind of a serial killer that I actually sympathized with!  Perhaps it because Costner's Earl Brooks is written as a three-dimensional character.  Earl is more than a killer, he is a successful businessman, a loving husband to wife Emma portrayed by Marg Helgenberger (Ryan's Hope, China Beach, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), and a forgiving father to daughter Jane portrayed by Danielle Panabaker (Shark), and has just been named Man-of-the-Year by the local Chamber of Commerce.  He is the very picture of the quintessential American success story by day and a cold blooded killer by night. 

Like most humans Earl has two sides to his personality: good and evil.  But while most of us are able to fend off the darkness, Earl's is alive and well in the guise of Marshall, portrayed by William Hurt (Children of a Lesser God, The Accidental Tourist, Tuck Everlasting).  Marshall is the invisible playmate most children create and then put away at some point, but Earl never put Marshall away; indeed his evil half has followed him throughout his life urging him to kill. 

My Viewpoints

I have mixed feelings about Mr. Brooks.  One the one hand I greatly enjoyed the smartly written (for the most part) script, but there were some bothersome holes in the plot that were not filled to my satisfaction.  For instance, how were Detective Atwood's on-going problems germane to the story?  There was no viable connection, other than Mr. Brook's need to toy with her, but I suppose that could be an answer in itself, but not much of one. 

Costner's performance was chilling and excellent; indeed this is Costner like we have heretofore never seen him; raw with emotional baggage and at time unsure of himself.  And he has a conscience; he doesn't want to killed, but is compelled to my Marshall, though we never do learn what the catalyst was that started him down his murderous path. 

When all is said and done Mr. Brooks is a movie well worth seeing if for nothing more than to see Costner don a new suit of theatrical clothing in what has to be considered his finest performance to date.