Product Details

• Actors: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker, Michael McGlone
• Directors: Phillip Noyce
• Writers: Jeffery Deaver, Jeremy Iacone
• Producers: Bo Dietl, Dan Jinks, Louis A. Stroller, Martin Bregman, Michael Bregman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 14, 2000
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (224 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783241291
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,604 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Released in late 1999, The Bone Collector was originally promoted as a thriller in the tradition of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, suggesting that it would earn a place among those earlier, better films. Nice try, but no cigar. The Bone Collector settles instead for mere competence and the modest rewards of a well-handled formula. With a terrific cast at his service, director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games) turns the pulpy indulgence of Jeffery Deaver's novel into a slick potboiler that is grisly fun only if you don't pick it apart.

Noyce expertly builds palpable tension around a series of gruesome murders that lead us into the darkest nooks of New York City. Now a bedridden quadriplegic prone to life-threatening seizures and suicidal depression, forensics detective Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) gets a new lease on life with a sharp young beat cop (Angelina Jolie) who's a wizard at analyzing crime scenes. She does field work while he deciphers clues from his high-tech Manhattan loft, and as they narrow the search their lives are increasingly endangered. As this formulaic plot grows moldy, Noyce resorts to narrative shortcuts, using perfunctory scenes to manipulate the viewer and taking morbid pleasure in his revelation of the murder scenes. And yet it all works, to a point, and the cast (including Queen Latifah and Luiz Guzmán) is much better than the material. If you're looking for a few good thrills, The Bone Collector is a pretty safe bet. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie may have signed on to this picture believing they were going to do a "Rear Window"-type thriller, but the film, while sharply directed by Phillip Noyce, is so badly plotted that it feels like an episode of "Ironside." Washington plays a forensics expert, a quadriplegic confined to his bed, who guides a police rookie (Jolie) through a series of clues to catch a gruesome serial killer. Noyce jacks up the slick production values and cool camera angles to give the picture some pizzazz, but the hokey dialogue and catch-the-killer philosophizing kills most of the tension. Although Washington's charisma shines, Jolie gives such a thin performance that it's almost laughable. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A class mystery thriller, March 6, 2000

By 

Jamie Bouadana (Rhymney UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bone Collector (DVD)

If you like films like kiss the girls, copycat and silence of the lambs you will like this movie. The basic plot, Denzel plays a paralysed expert in police forensics who was injured in the line of duty. He is asked by his old colleague Ed o'neil to work on a new serial killer case and he accepts but requires that a young rookie cop help with the forensics, they then form a terrific partnership trying to solve the case by Denzel teaching his gained knowldege to his young apprentice. The acting is good along with an excellent storyline. The DVD has a few special features with the usual DVD superb picture and sound quality. Well worth the price.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth watching if you haven't read the Deaver novel of the, July 5, 2002

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bone Collector (DVD)

same name.

If you have, do not, I repeat, do not plan to enjoy the movie. I've no problem with the scripting changes necessitated when films are made from great books (although they usually don't work!)....but in this case, a truly unique first appearance of Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic forensic specialist, is spoiled by some deliberate and wasted alterations of the characters and the plot.

The changes? Rhyme's nurse in the novel was a cynic, gay harpy...the perfect person to try to control Rhyme. In the movie, a big-hearted, dedicated career nurse is played by Queen Latifah. Why? The ending of the film was completely changed by the scriptwriters, and I urge you to read the novel to see the shocking conclusion that played so much better than the film ended.

I blame Noyce, the director, for the script annihilation, the "too dark" filming sequences outside of Rhyme's apartment, and the waste of a pretty cohesive cast.

I'm giving 3 stars instead of less because the cast does a fine job, and the sets are outstanding. Angelina Jolie may not have been excellent here, in Amelia's first appearance, but you can believe that she would be perfect for the part if filmakers chose to continue the Rhyme theme and film some of the later, greater novels. Supporting players are all strong, and Denzel is outstanding as Lincoln Rhyme, with his electronic life-giving toys, his attitude, and his willingness to give up life as every seizure (well played!) rocks his world. The chemistry between Jolie & Washington is strong and well-played, and, had the film been shot a little differently and been more of a success, Washington might have had the continuous role as Rhyme that Harrison Ford keeps winning in films...oh, well.

Read the novel, but then don't watch the DVD!!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MOVIE ENTERTAINING AND SUSPENSEFUL.,, January 4, 2005

By 

Debra A. Jean (New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bone Collector (DVD)

It's unfortunate that both Jonathan and Victor didn't care for the film. I found the storyline to be very suspenseful right to the end. I thought Denzel did a great job in the film and he and Anjolina Jolie worked well together. The film did what it was intending to which was to entertain. Sure any film made could always have had a better ending or a better plot, but it's pure entertainment. And on that level, it was a good movie which I would highly recommend.
People need to lighten up on their criticisms