Product Details

• Actors: James Spader, Keanu Reeves, Marisa Tomei, Ernie Hudson, Chris Ellis
• Directors: Joe Charbanic
• Writers: David Elliot, Clay Ayers, Darcy Meyers
• Producers: Brian Benson, Christopher Eberts, Clark Peterson, David Elliot
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: February 15, 2011
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CXND
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,081 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Watcher" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

KEANU REEVES TURNS UP THE HEAT AS A STONE COLD SERIAL KILLERPLAYING A SADISTIC GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE WITH A BURNT-OUT FBI AGENT.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keanu and Spader, Perfect together!, March 7, 2001

By 

Jason Ostrowski "HomeTheaterGuy" (Morristown, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Watcher (DVD)

There are two reasons why you should buy this flick, excellent performances from Keanu Reeves and James Spader, and an awesome sound track! The relationship between Keanu and Spader are natural and convincing. I like Keanu in the "Bad Guy" role; he puts his laid-back style into the role and totally sells it. I've read some reviews that knock his performance here, I obviously don't agree! His laid back style is a breath of fresh air from the "off the wall, over energetic, borderline spastic" killers that we usually see in this kind of role. In fact, Keanu's demeanor makes the character even that much more spooky! That being said, I do agree that James Spader is the shinning star here. Spader, as the "burnt out" Cop on the verge of a stroke, is painful to watch (in a good way), Spader makes you feel the pain and stress that his character feels. Marisa Tomei does an ample job at playing her role, the fact that the role she portrays isn't really a factor until the end of the movie, she does the job of keeping the character at the level it was meant to be at. Yes this movie has been done before, a few times in fact, but the combination of Spader and Reeves gives it a new face. For my fellow Home Theater owners, this movie is fun to watch. There is great base and crisp highs; explosions will surely give your subs a workout! My only knock of this movie is the over use of (what is considered by today's standard) hip music. When the scene seems to call for suspenseful music, all of a sudden the rap/rock type of music starts (Stigmata had this same problem), but if you can look (or listen) past that, this is a great flick to watch and own.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Piece of Film, March 2, 2001

By 

Victor Drysel (TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Watcher (DVD)

The main thing that made me want to see this movie was to see if Keanu Reeves could pull off the whole serial killer thing. I was impressed with his performance. Actually I was impressed with the whole thing. It was done tastefully and well. It was really nice to see James Spader finally in another movie. In my opinion, he's a very under-rated actor. The main plot line follows Spader's character. He's an ex FBI agent that before leaving was heading a major investigation looking for a serial killer named David Allen Griffin. Griffin (Reeves) is fixated on Spader and wants him back in the game. There's a lot of action, and some cool cinematic shots done that made the movie have a really interesting feel. I recommend this one to the people looking for some good entertainment.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Passable thriller; good for Reeves or Spader fans, March 22, 2006

By 

Danno (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Watcher (DVD)

"The Watcher" looks and sounds like a made-for-cable-TV thriller about a stalker/serial killer. I was surprised to learn that it got a theatrical release, which I think accounts for its many poor reviews. This isn't a terrible film by any means. Instead, it's a time killer that fans of either James Spader or Keanu Reeves will probably get a kick out of and there's some lovely location footage of Chicago to boot.

Keanu Reeves plays a serial killer from James Spader's past. He tracks the former FBI agent down and starts killing young women again. This forces Spader to resume his career as an FBI agent; a decision that is fraught with drama because Spader is now burnt-out on police work and is virtually addicted to a variety of prescription drugs. There's nothing spectacularly intriguing or even novel about the film's premise or execution. But if you're a fan of Spader's TV work, you're going to like this one a lot, and it's fun to see Reeves play what is essentially an extended cameo cast against type. Marisa Tomei fans beware - the talented actress is almost totally wasted in a small, thankless role.

Great cinema? Hardly. But as a Spader fan, I enjoyed this one as a rental and think you will too.