35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A thrilling film!, April 16, 2002
Finally, Sandra Bullock has acted in a good film! Ever since I saw her in 'Speed', I always thought that she was a talented actress. But then 'While you were sleeping' and 'Hope floats' were thoroughly cliched and made me wonder if she was just a one-film wonder. Well, she did prove me otherwise in 'Murder by numbers'.
If you thought from the title or the trailer that this film is about a serial killer, you are wrong (I did that same mistake too!). This film is about the perfect crime or what the killer(s) think will be a perfect crime. As is the case with all killers, they do one simple mistake and that is enough for Casey (the cop played by Sandra Bullock) and her partner Sam to solve the case.
Even though there is no actual suspense in the film, I will not spoil the plot by telling who the killers are. The director does not attempt to hide the identity of the killers, it is fairly clear who the killers are right from the first or second scene. In spite of this, the film continues to gather momentum, with Sandra Bullock and her partner doing their detective work meticulously. Where the film lacks in suspense, it more than makes up for it in the tight story-line and the excellent acting by all the actors.
Sandra Bullock is very convincing as the troubled cop who has a checkered history of her own and that comes to light as the film progresses. Ben Chaplin, who plays Bullock's partner Sam is good too, but the best acting in the film comes from the two young men played by Ryan Gosling (who plays Richard) and Michael Pitt (who plays Justin). Gosling is nothing less than brilliant in his portrayal and his future as an actor sure looks bright.
The film drags a bit towards the end, with the climax being a bit cliched. But this is surely a film that is worth seeing!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
saved by two outstanding performances, April 21, 2002
"Murder By Numbers" is merely the latest version of the old Leopold and Loeb story, wherein two amoral youths plan and execute a cold-blooded murder for the sheer intellectual challenge of seeing if they can get away with it. Alfred Hitchcock had a go at the tale back in the 1940's in a film called "Rope," and now it appears to be Barbet Schroeder's turn this time around. Aided by writer Tony Gayton, Schroeder focuses on Richard and Justin, two high school buddies living in a bucolic seaside community in Northern California, who commit murder in order to prove Justin's thesis that the courage to carry through with a crime is the ultimate form of human freedom. Anyone who has read "Crime and Punishment" will know immediately that this is not a particularly original philosophical position and, in fact, the film even makes some heavy-handed allusions to that famous novel in the fact that one of the characters in the movie keeps referring to Justin, the mastermind of the plot, as "Napoleon" (Napoleon serves as the inspiration for the novel's main character, Raskolnikov). Richard is the pretty little rich boy, popular in school for both his good looks and his attitude of cool detachment, while Justin is the nerdy intellectual, dismissed by most of his peers as creepily eccentric, who has made an exhaustive study of just how to "get away with murder" by circumventing all the forensic techniques used in modern crime scene investigation.
"Murder By Numbers" is definitely at its best when it is focusing on the two youths and the strange relationship between them - and clearly at its worst when it is viewing matters from the opposite perspective, that of the criminal investigating team led by Cassie Mayweather, played by Sandra Bullock. Cassis seems to come equipped with all the standard baggage common to lead female characters who happen to be working in a predominantly ugly (i.e. male-dominated) profession. The brusque demeanor with which she confronts most of her colleagues has earned her the affectionate nicknames "Hyena" and "Scorpion" (the former because hyenas apparently have a pseudo-penis and the latter for more obviously symbolic reasons). Not only is this beautiful young woman (as always) unattached (why are such attractive people in movies never in relationships?), but she drives men away by her refusal to let any of them get truly near to her. The filmmakers have tried to apply some psychological depth to her character by having her suffering from the effects of a traumatic event in her past, but this whole aspect seems strangely unconvincing and tacked on - and rather distracting when what we really want to be doing is following the much more interesting drama taking place between the two boys.
Although Bullock is never less than competent in the lead role, the scene-stealers turn out to be Ryan Gosling as Richard and, most especially, Michael Pitt as Justin. These two fine actors command our attention every time they appear on the screen and lift this rather routine script to the level of high drama more frequently than it surely deserves. Pitt, in particular, beautifully underplays the role of the social outcast, a boy so intellectually brilliant that he cannot connect with the flesh-and-blood people around him. Yet, the single finest aspect of the screenplay is that it does not portray Pitt as a hopelessly twisted maniac. He is, in fact, capable of both compassion and fear - a fact which helps to make his character compelling and complex enough to pique our interest.
"Murder By Numbers" is, in a way, an appropriately named movie. But thanks to sharp performances by Gosling and Pitt, the film has more to offer than it otherwise might.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Follow the crumbs, October 21, 2004
Sandra Bullock does a great job of playing a detective looking for a murderer. The clues are a bit to neat to suit her and she begins to look deeper. This movie was borderline Hitchcock style murder mystery and very smoothly done. Just a little stronger acting by Ben Chaplin and Ryan Gosling and it would have been a major hit. They do a good job but they are not the caliber of Ed Norton in "Primal Fear". If they were they would have got at least oscar nominations if not awards. I still think they turn in fine performances and were not appreciated. I personally think the whole movie was underrated. I think it improves with additional viewings. You begin to truly appreciate the performances and the story. A Hitchcock air about it that makes you think of "The Rope" and "Vertigo". I bought the DVD and I recommend it. Most fans of movies like "Kiss the Girls" and "Along Came a Spider" will enjoy it.
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