In this movie, John Cusack plays a disturbed kidnapper/killer who tries to outsmart the police while doing horrible things to women. Nicholas Cage plays the impressively ineffectual police detective who tries to catch John doing the bad things he does.
John's character does only the bare minimum to not get caught, and it's almost unbelievable that Cage's character would be so bad at his job - the entire police department would be so bad - that they wouldn't have captured him and been able to tie all of the murders to him. Instead, John's ability to capture and kill at will is nearly laughable.
The whole movie is shot in winter, so they add that dark tint to every scene that gives it the feeling of depression and impending doom. It's actually pretty effective at making the movie feel more dramatic than it is. The script adds in the wayward young woman who needs a cop's protection while she is singled out by the psychopath, but it's kind of hard to actually care much for her, even with the obligatory change from street hustler to lovable victim.
Nicholas Cage - famously - cannot act very well. In this movie, he does an okay job, as there is less yelling and playing the psychotic or angry dude. So, we get lots of close ups of his face while he talks to the now sweet young girl to try to let her know how frustrated he is at his own inability to solve the case, catch the bad guy, or do something meaningful in this film at all.
John Cusack can act just fine, but his cold, distant serial killer character doesn't give him a whole lot of room to stretch his legs. Instead, he has blank stares and fake smiles that are supposed to mask a vast repository of internal strife, but it comes across as phoning the whole thing in.
The biggest letdown is really the story. It's just hard to make a movie about a serial killer and a cop chasing him last THIS LONG when they meet at the beginning, and we (and the police) know who the bad guy is and are just unable to do anything about it.
The story was not good.
Acting was a mixed bag.
Pacing was slow as hell.
Art direction was good.
1.75/5