Entertainment Weekly Online - Wednesday, September 6, 2000
THE WATCHER
Keanu Reeves, James Spader

Universal, Rated R

Thrillers about serial killers traditionally consist of three parts: identification of the killer, capture of the killer while one last intended victim writhes, and explanation of why the killer kills. But as ''The Cell'' so recently demonstrated, little is ever gained by dwelling on the average serial killer's motives. At least not in the movies,
where psychological excavation usually yields clichés involving tortured homosexual desires, childhood abuse, or a bad church experience. Even in a story as exciting as ''The Silence of the Lambs,'' the kind of diagnoses favored by screenwriters seem strained compared with the sickening violence of the crimes.

But some diagnoses are lamer than others. In The Watcher, Keanu Reeves plays David Allen Griffin, an aloof psycho (that's giving his blankness the benefit of the doubt) who preys on young, unattached women. He likes to study his quarry's routine (hence the existential title). Then he breaks into her home, hides until she returns after a lonely day of being single, dances with her, and garrotes her with wire. James Spader plays Joel Campbell, the FBI agent who first unsuccessfully tracked Griffin in Los Angeles, as a result of which he's become a pill guzzling wreck so haggard he makes ''The Cell'''s Vince Vaughn look well rested. (That Reeves and
Spader might have more ''logically'' been cast in their opposite role is the movie's only surprise.)

                  Campbell has moved to Chicago, where he is
                  being treated by a psychotherapist played by
                  Marisa Tomei, a graduate of Dr. Melfi's
                  ''Sopranos'' school of analysis: lots of
                  empathetic looks while sitting very still. And the
                  news that Griffin has come to Chicago too, the
                  better to taunt his pursuer -- the criminal sends
                  photos of his intended victims to the cop -- only
                  makes Spader enact migraine pain with even
                  more vein popping effort. Griffin, it becomes
                  clear, feels nothing for the young women he
                  slashes and discards; the real object of his
                  obsession -- in a ''Chuck & Buck''ish sort of way
                  -- is Campbell.

                  At any rate, first time feature director Joe
                  Charbanic evidently feels something special for
                  Reeves, if only because the actor previously
                  hired Charbanic to direct videos for Reeves'
                  band, Dogstar. Reeves is a stiff dancer and he
                  delivers his lines in a full leather jacket
                  monotone, but Charbanic approximates
                  dynamism by making Reeves a part of the
                  composition -- smoke, shadows, light, rock & roll
                  -- while Marco Beltrami's busy score tries in vain
                  to suggest Hitchcockian tension. (When he's not
                  running after his perp, Spader is photographed
                  so that he appears slack, undone.)

                  In one climactic scene, Griffin, Campbell, and
                  Campbell's shrink are brought together in a
                  derelict industrial space -- very ''Diva'' -- that
                  Campbell has thoughtfully lit with dozens of
                  candles. Well, multiple candles may be a
                  universal symbol in movies (and rock videos) for
                  romance and spirituality. But they're useless in
                  illuminating the deadness of ''The Watcher.''
                  Grade:  C–   -- Lisa Schwarzbaum
 

Chicago Sun Times - Friday, September 8, 2000
THE WATCHER / ** (R)

Campbell: James Spader
Polly: Marisa Tomei
Griffin: Keanu Reeves
Hollis: Chris Ellis

Universal presents a film directed by Joe Charbanic. Written by Darcy Meyers, David Elliot, and Clay Ayers. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated R (for violence and language).

BY ROGER EBERT

"The Watcher" is about still another serial killer whose existence centers on staging elaborate scenarios for the cops. If these weirdos would just become screenwriters in the first place, think of the lives that could be saved. Keanu Reeves stars as Griffin, a murderer who follows an FBI agent named Campbell (James Spader) from Los Angeles to Chicago, complaining about the cold weather but explaining he had to move because "things didn't work out with your successor." Killing just wasn't the same without Campbell to bug.

According to a theory floated by Campbell's therapist (Marisa Tomei), the killer and the agent may need each other, or are the brothers neither one ever had. Freud would cringe. Campbell is indeed forever seeking Griffin's reaction; what the agent thinks is more important to him than what his victims think. Griffin spends relatively little time killing his victims, but must spend days preparing presentations for Campbell.

He sets puzzles, issues challenges, sends him FedEx packages with photos of the next victims, devises elaborate booby traps and recklessly follows the agent (who does not know what he looks like) right onto elevators. Finally he sets up a face-to-face meeting in a cemetery. The psychology here is a little shaky. Although some serial killers may have issues with the law, most of them focus, I think, on their victims and not on some kind of surrogate authority figure.

The movie's structure is simple: Killer issues challenge, agent rises to bait, desperate city-wide search leads to still more frustration. (Strange, that the same weekend would bring the overplotted "The Way of the Gun" and the underplotted "The Watcher.") "The Watcher" devotes an inordinate amount of its running time to Chicago police cars with sirens screaming as they hurtle down streets and over bridges, never turning a corner without almost spinning out. There are also a lot of helicopters involved. At one point the killer is pinpointed "20 miles north of the city," a map shows Lincolnwood, and the cops converge at first on the Wrigley Building, before relocating to an abandoned warehouse. I know you're not supposed to fret about local geography in a movie, where a city is a backdrop and not a map, but aren't there a lot of people who know the Wrigley Building is not 20 miles north of the city? Maybe the helicopter pilots are disoriented; in the chase that opens the movie, they come whirling into town from Lake Michigan, which makes for a nice opening shot while not answering the puzzle of how many miles from shore they are usually stationed.

The actors cannot be faulted. They bring more to the story than it really deserves. Spader has his hands on an intriguing character; Agent Campbell's tragic history (shown in flashbacks) has led to migraines so bad that he injects himself with pain medication straight into a stomach muscle. Painkillers have made him start losing his way and forgetting stuff, he complains to Tomei, and a Chicago cop calls him "Captain Barbiturate," observing "if his pupils don't dilate, we don't need him." Migraines literally cripple their victims, but Campbell has one of those considerate cases that never strikes when he is saving lives or pursuing fugitives.

Spader's quiet exchanges with Tomei are effective, too, even if we know her character was put on earth to get into big trouble. Reeves, as the killer, has the fairly thankless task of saying only what the movie needs him to say; he's limited by the fact that his killer has no real dimension or personality apart from his function as a plot device. The final confrontation is an example: Is he more interested in revenge, or in demonstrating the ingenuities of his booby-trapped scenario? It goes without saying, I guess, that the scene features hundreds of candles. Just once in a pervert killer movie, I wish they'd show a scene where he's pushing a cart through the
Hallmark store, actually buying all those candles ("Do you have any that are unscented and aren't shaped, like, uh, little Hummel figures?").
 

Daily Southtown - Friday, September 8th, 2000
Movie Reviews

"The Watcher"  * *  ½ (two stars and a half) — If Mayor Daley is peeved at Keanu Reeves for coaching inner-city Little Leaguers with potty mouths, watch out when he discovers the actor's latest role is a happy-go-lucky serial killer depleting the population of Chicago by wrapping piano wire about the necks of young women. In this perversely entertaining game of cat and mouse, lack of familiarity with Chicago geography provokes unintentional guffaws. R.
 

LA Times - Friday, September 8, 2000
'The Watcher' Looks Like a Routine Suspense Thriller

By KEVIN THOMAS, Times Staff Writer

"The Watcher" is a meticulously crafted but resolutely routine serial killer suspense thriller. While intelligently
plotted and well-acted by James Spader, Keanu Reeves and Marisa Tomei, it is neither acutely suspenseful nor
particularly thrilling but instead mainly numbing. You're left wishing that Oscar-winning cinematographer Michael Chapman's glorious lensing of Chicago was in the service of a far more engaging and original movie.

Spader plays Campbell, an FBI specialist in serial killers who has failed to nail the killer of 11 women in Los Angeles. He's gone into hiding in Chicago, where he's under heavy medication and regular therapy from a psychologist (Tomei). Naturally, the killer (Reeves) soon pops up in the Windy City to continue singling out largely solitary young women for strangling with piano wire. Tomei's Polly assures Campbell that, as burned-out as he is, he's still the guy best qualified to continue trying to nab Reeves' Griffin, who always dresses in black.

As time passes and Griffin still eludes Campbell, writers David Elliot and Clay Ayers begin offering a few observations, primarily that Griffin needs to feel that Campbell specifically is pursuing him. It gives him an added kick, and it would seem that he has, in a sense, fallen in love with the FBI agent--though that would scarcely stop him from killing him if he could.

The film, which has been directed with energy and dispatch by Joe Charbanic, takes its title from Griffin's careful observation of the daily routines of the women he chooses as his victims; it also allows the serial killer to make the point that "We don't notice each other anymore," thus enabling him to get away with killing largely anonymous young women, such as a clerk in a shopping mall photo developing store and a homeless young runaway, panhandling in the streets.

But that's about it for content. It's good to see an actor who radiates as much intelligence as Spader capably hold down a major role in a big action movie, but Reeves is asked no more than to be insinuatingly evil and clearly crazed, and Tomei is required little more than to register lots of empathy for Spader's Campbell. Among the supporting players, Chris Ellis is a standout as the kind of dedicated, confident cop that we wish all police officers could be.

MPAA-rated: R, for violence and language. Times guidelines: much emphasis on violence directed at women, much action-movie violence and some strong language.

'The Watcher'
James Spader: Campbell
Marisa Tomei: Polly
Keanu Reeves: Griffin
Ernie Hudson: Ibby
Chris Ellis: Hollis[

A Universal Pictures presentation in association with Interlight of a Lewitt/Eberts-Choni/Niami production. Director Joe Charbanic. Producers Christopher Eberts, Elliot Lewitt, Jeff Rice, Nile Niami. Executive producers Patrick Choi, Paul Pompian. Screenplay by David Elliot and Clay Ayers; from a story by Darcy Meyers and Elliot. Cinematographer Michael Chapman. Editor Richard Nord. Music Marco Beltrami. Visual
effects supervisor Rodney Iwashina. Costumes Jay Hurley. Production designers Brian Eatwell, Maria Caso. Art director  Jeff Wallace. Set designer Pat Raney. Set decorator Caroline Perzan. Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.
 

San Francisco Gate - San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 8, 2000
Don't `Watch' Thriller barely hangs together

*PICTURE*

Bob Graham, Chronicle Senior Writer

THE WATCHER: Thriller. Starring Keanu Reeves, James Spader and Marisa Tomei. Directed by Joe Charbanic. (Rated R. 96 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

Keanu Reeves as a serial killer? Whoa! From replacement player to replacement killer.

In ``The Watcher,'' a hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles can't disguise the fact that this dismal thriller is all situation and no story. Not many thrills, either.

Nice explosions, though.

Reeves, puffy but not half as creepy as he needs to be, plays a murderer who has stalked a burned-out FBI agent (James Spader) from Los Angeles to Chicago. It's a reverse nemesis kind of thing.

Now, David Allen Griffin (Reeves) is taunting Special Agent Jack Campbell by sending him photographs of his victims, all young women, 24 hours before he kills them.

``The Watcher'' is the first feature film directed by Joe Charbanic, a director of television commercials and music vid eos who has done videos for Reeves' rock group, Dogstar. At the end of scenes, images go from positive to negative with a great thwack! on the sound track. There's click motion, slo-mo, blurred images and, the most provocative of all, video.

At first, the visual mess seems to be merely the arty product of someone's short attention span. There is a method, however, to the use of video, but when it starts to make some sense and gain momentum, the idea just falls off the table. The expected follow-through never comes.

Marisa Tomei plays Special Agent Campbell's psychiatrist. He is a wreck. He pops pills to go to sleep, injects meth to keep going during the day and lives in a mess of an apartment that is an accurate reflection of his state of mind.

He is as demoralized as the audience will become. After a while, holing up in his ratty apartment seems a reasonable alternative to watching the rest of this movie.

Reeves makes an effort to give the killer creepy little idiosyncrasies. He talks to his victims in a soft, reassuring manner. After they are tied up, he does a weird little dance in front of them.

Without half trying, Spader is better at creepy. The killer is supposed to have a symbiotic relationship with the FBI agent, but they should have taken it a step further: Reeves and Spader should have exchanged roles.

There are a couple of shock cuts in ``The Watcher,'' but that's about it. What kind of thriller is this, where nothing that anyone cares about is at stake?

A pair of infernos provide some of the better moments in this film, even if there are holes in this story big enough to drive a flaming car through.

One of them involves the FBI man's transformation from hollow-eyed, strung-out medication junkie to well- groomed agent. He looks so good they put him in charge of the investigation.

-- Advisory: This film contains violence. ..
 

SF Gate - San Francisco Examiner - Friday, September 8th, 2000
"The Watcher' can wait

By Wesley Morris EXAMINER FILM CRITIC

HOT OFF his stint as a quarterback in the dismal 'The Replacements," Keanu Reeves suits up for the somehow worse "The Watcher," this time as a lady-killer let loose on the streets of Chicago.

By all accounts, Reeves didn't want the part after it swelled from a stint to a starring role, but legally his only choice was to act - or "act." See the "Boxing Helena" clause. (I feel your pain, bro: I don't want to write this review.) But here we are anyway, with Reeves striking flamenco poses to Rob Zombie songs as he contemplates polishing off Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. Meanwhile, James Spader (!) is duct-taped to a chair pondering a way to stop him.

Or is Spader mentally retracing the steps that brought him from the toxic "Supernova" smack into this joy parade? Either way, it's a depressing state of affairs, one neither you nor I deserve. First-time director and insta-hack Joe Charbanic happens to have been a Canadian hockey buddy of Reeves. And his film is strictly penalty box.

Reeves, Spader and Tomei form a trinity of second and third chances, with careers that have done hard time on Hollywood milk cartons. Throw in cinematographer Michael Chapman ("Taxi Driver"), and the collection of errors in judgment just gets sadder. But glory days don't pay the bills, friends. Crap does - especially the kind it takes at least six producers to make. And "The Watcher" brings them all together for one dreary cesspool of a
blowout in which the psycho in Reeves needs (inexplicably, I might add) the sleepy cop in Spader.

If nothing else, "The Watcher" is a milestone for Spader, whose somnambulant performance technique achieves a new low here. See him doze off in scene after scene after scene. See him do it in an apartment that's been made up to look eerily like the one where he got freaky in "Sex, Lies and Videotape." His distressed cop even pays a visit to the shrink Tomei plays, and borderline-narcoleptic urges overtake her, too. Inevitably, romance
threatens to break out between them. But the formula for Spader-Tomei sexual chemistry must be locked in the Samsonites bulging under their eyes.

Having nailed the weirdo voyeur in "Sex, Lies," Spader, tries his hand at the law, which apparently bores him to no end. Not that we see Reeves actually engaging in any kinky spying. He's barely menacing, trying mightily to "high stick" (to use hockey parlance) this project. Trolling the streets wearing a face that speaks of sadness and hunger, he looks like someone just broke up with him. Again, that someone must be Spader.

The script appears to have been dunked in the same agitated septic tank that the movie seems to be photographed in. I can't believe the same person who shot "Raging Bull" is responsible for this film's dank look. It answers questions I didn't know I had about what "Taxi Driver" would have looked like filmed with a grimy Web cam.

                 ***

Movie Review "The Watcher'

-- CAST James Spader, Keanu Reeves, Marisa Tomei

-- DIRECTOR Joe Charbanic

-- WRITER David Elliot and Clay Ayers

-- RATED R

-- THEATERS Metreon, AMC 1000, Kabuki, Empire, Alexandria, Century Plaza (South San Francisco).

-- EVALUATION 1/2 *
 

Dark Horizons - Reviews - Friday, September 8th, 2000
"The Watcher" - A Review by 'The Bishop' (Positive - Minor Spoilers)

B-movie thrillers, like the new film THE WATCHER, were probably considered very special occasions in the 1970s and 80s.  In that time, it was thrilling and rare to watch a detective hunt down a drug dealer or a murderer. The hunt for justice was blissfully intoxicating. Those films usually were helmed by top notch filmmakers and starred Al Pacino or Gene Hackman, actors of such grand caliber that made the genre so memorable. But now it's the year 2000. Detective stories are everywhere from network television to the fiction pages of adult magazines. And the serial killer film? Buried into the ground. All this makes THE WATCHER all the more surprising. A competent, nearly perfectly acted schlocky thriller with enough gumption and
resourcefulness that it actually works.

James Spader stars as Jack Campbell, a former detective who spent his career in Los Angeles chasing down a serial killer (Keanu Reeves) who stalks and strangles young, single women. Now living off disability for crippling migraines, Campbell has moved to Chicago for a brand new start, and a chance to get away from the killer that tormented him. Trouble is, the killer has followed Campbell to the windy city and soon embarks on his old habit of strangling innocents with piano wire. Fearing more needless deaths, Campbell is forced back into the investigation and becomes relentless in trying to stop the mysterious killer once and for all.

Director Joe Charbanic makes a strong first impression with his debut feature, THE WATCHER. The script by David Elliot and Clay Ayers offers nothing much new to the game, mostly the normal clichés of serial killer stories (the tormenting of the cop involved, the dark warehouse lair). Charbanic, seeming to know the script's inability, keeps the pace lurching forward, never once stopping for us to notice the plot holes or lack of depth. Occasionally, Charbanic's visual style (slow motion, and lots of it, often resembling the debut video from a teenage heavy metal band on a local cable access channel) is absurd and makes THE WATCHER look like the Saturday late night movie that it is deep within it's heart. That aside, THE WATCHER is a tightly paced picture full of many remarkable moments of inspiration.

Also elevating the material above sea level is Marco Beltrami's grindhouse score. Matching the sleaze factor of the film note for note, Beltrami fashions a score that gives the proceedings a delicious air of obscenity and menace. Director Charbanic has to contend with pop music selections as well, but he manages to massage the awkward songs into the finished film appropriately. Artists like Rob Zombie and Portishead blare loudly and frequently without warning, and Charbanic makes it work. If you have to have pop songs in your film, at least use them wisely.

I would have to say that James Spader is one of the most underrated actors working today. He is always absolute and always original. There is no actor like quite like Spader out there. His performance in THE WATCHER is a refreshing blend of disgust and regret. Just observing the Spader character as he is forced back into active duty is entertaining enough. Obviously a character that is fed up with goofball witnesses and lazy beat cops, Spader burns the screen with a ferocity that I have never seen out of the actor before. Equally as entertaining is the Spader character's genuine irritation that Reeves's killer has moved to Chicago to seek him out. You don't see that realistic a reaction much in thrillers these days.

As for Keanu Reeves, he makes the best out of his supporting role. Even stopping to have a little fun being evil so soon after attaining hero status in his smash role in THE MATRIX. Marisa Tomei has even less to do in a thankless role as Spader's endangered therapist. After all these years, this is the best the Academy Award winning actress can do?

As these types of cop thrillers go, you could do a lot worse than THE WATCHER. Universal Pictures seems to burying this film in the dead air of September, when in fact this is one of the better films they've had all year. If you're a fan of this genre, this is one film not to miss.------ 8/10
 

Dark Horizons - Reviews - Thrusday, September 7th, 2000
"The Watcher" - A Review by 'Vincent' (Negative - No Spoilers)

August is known as the month when the quality of movies is the lowest. Traditionally it is a "dumping ground." This August is a perfect example. In only one week, Hollywood tortured us with 'Coyote Ugly," "Autumn in New York" and "The Replacements." All three qualify for the honor of worst movie of the year at the very least. But bad movies are not limited to August. Universal Pictures decided to wait until September to release "The Watcher," which is almost as bad as the aforementioned films. By holding off until after August Universal must be attempting to get adults expecting a serious thriller into the theater. Please folks, do not be fooled. Keanu Reeves gives the worst performance of his career in this lame serial killer flick. He is pathetically awful. Why Reeves decided to do this movie is unclear, but it was a huge mistake. Maybe it was for fun or maybe he was bored or maybe it was practice for his next movie, "The Gift," in which he plays a white trash abusive husband. But no reason is good enough. James Spader (remember him?) stars as an FBI agent named Joel Campbell. He has moved to Chicago to get away from a horrible tragedy that took place in Los Angeles. Campbell is living on disability, having become addicted to painkillers and other various pills that prevent him from functioning in the workplace. He is also seeing a therapist named Polly (Marisa Tomei, remember her?). Unfortunately for Campbell, Reeves (the only name his character is given is an alias he once used) has followed him to Chicago. When he isn't watching Campbell, Reeves is strangling young, lonely, pretty women. Then he starts playing a game with Campbell. Reeves will send him a random woman's picture. Campbell has one day to try and find her and save her life. No more disability for our troubled hero. For some reason, though they know he is a strung out addict, the FBI practically begs Campbell to begin working again. That doesn't seem like a smart idea, but Campbell is the only one who can stop Reeves, or so we are led to believe. There are made-for-TV movies that are infinitely more suspenseful than "The Watcher." There is not one tense or scary moment in the entire film. Having Reeves play a cunning, smart (supposedly) and methodical serial killer doesn't help matters. He always has a goofy grin on his face, and his boyish, innocent face make him entirely unbelievable as a ruthless killer. According to Campbell, Reeves knows forensics and never leaves fingerprints. He knows how to not get caught and is intelligent. But Reeves does some moronic things throughout the movie that make this impossible to take. The script, by David Elliot and Clay Ayers, doesn't help anyone. It is full of holes, cliches, bad lines and a preposterous, laughable finale. Not one moment is convincing and you leave wondering why it didn't go straight to cable. "The  Watcher" is directed by Joe Charbanic. He has no credits listed on the Internet Movie Database. It was not a good idea to hire someone with no directorial skills to helm this movie. And at a scant 90 minutes, it feels like the movie was chopped in the editing room to make it as short and painless as possible. No such luck. It is doubtful September will bring a worse movie. Hopefully Reeves never takes a role like this again. As for Spader (so great as the bad guy in "Wolf") and Tomei (Oscar winner for "My Cousin Vinny"), they honestly deserve better than this. Don't watch "The Watcher."
 

Ain't it Cool News - Wednesday, September 6th, 2000
Ed Nygma takes a horrified look at Keanu's latest... THE WATCHER

Hey folks, Harry here... Personally according to my theory of Keanu Reeves, this movie must suck. Reason? Ok... here we go. Any movie where Keanu Reeves is supposed to be the smart one.... it flops... anytime that he's supposed to be the dumb or disbelieving character that must try to learn something... he's awesome. Keanu's good flicks: SPEED, BILL AND TED 1 and 2, Matrix, POINT BREAK. However, when intelligent we get LITTLE BUDDHA, JOHNNY MNUEMONIC, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, etc... So in this film, he's
supposed to be in control of things and know everything... it won't work. However, in THE GIFT... he plays an ignorant asshole character that doesn't know much of anything... he'll rule. AND my theory holds bad for MATRIX 2 because now that he is THE ONE... well he's supposed to know all.... which means the movie can't rule as hard as the first one. Of course... this is just a theory, and not yet an entirely proven LAW OF FILM.... Here's Ed Nygma

Hey Harry, Ed Nygma here. I just got back from and advance screening of The Watcher. I got the tickets from my local comic shop and decided to check it out with a friend of mine. After getting out of the theatre, he had asked me what I thought. It Sucked. It was a bad, bad serial killer movie. I know why Keanu Reeves didn’t want to do this. James Spader, okay, I liked him, only because I have had somewhat of a liking toward him due to a certain director (soderbergh), but this, as I can not stress more, is bad. Well, for 8 bucks its bad, I saw it for free, and it still wasn’t good. This is something you should rent if anything.

Ok, an unbelievable amount of ripoffs, right down to the slight Alex Proyas influence made this laughable, and the attempt at the chief or whatever making him comic relief, that was bad (you’ll know if you see it.) The pacing was horrible, starting and ending with “hip” music and a more cool faster pacing and a lagging dull middle, and when you look through his point of view, it always seems as if he’s videotaping. There are scenes in this film that are there hinting that there is a reason for it to be there, but there isn’t.

And the end, GOD, the end….. I wont “spoil” it for you, but jeeez, could it get any more run-of-the-mill, it looks like something you would see on TV. See it if you please but this is bad.

If this is published, I am known as

Ed Nygma