Capturing the Killer Nurse

I watched this having watched the film in which Eddie Redmayne started as Charles Cullen.

I'm glad I did it this way round, so many things I found hard to believe in the film, were actually true, the film wasn't sensationalised, it seemed to stick quite rigidly to the content.

What a documentary should be, thought provoking, dramatic, revealing, and a little bit shocking, some parts of it were actually hard to fathom, that is one messed up system.

Amy Loughren's thoughts were astonishing the whole way through, once again, I'm speechless at how rotten the establishment was, how many lives could have been saved.

One thing the film didn't really get into was Cullen's motivation, you will actually hear that in his own words here, the interview sequences were astonishing I thought. What a curious guy, I'd like to see more on him, to try and understand him a little better, he's impossible to piece together.

8/10.

First of all, when I first watched the official teaser of the documentary I liked it and I had high expectations about it. Eventually, it was as good as I had imagined and I liked it. The plot of the documentary was very interesting and mysterious. The storyline was well-written, well-explained and everything was accurate. I have to admit, it was a kinda intense documentary, especially the ending part. In my opinion, it was a nice crime documentary and it wasn't boring. The ending part was kinda predictable, but it was emotionally intense. Overall, "Capturing the Killer Nurse" was a nice documentary and I would probably recommend it to my friends.

The story is interesting. And it is imperative that people understand that we now have another "blue wall of silence" covering up corruption and illegal behavior by the institutions. We had the police blue wall of silence and now we have the medical one too. As it is true in the US as it is definitely true in the UK and that leads me to believe it is EVERYWHERE.

That being said this 1:30h documentary could've been done in 45min. I mean keeping all the info mentioned which some reviewers even complained the info wasn't enough. But this thing is soooooo slow, with several intervals of repetitive music, several empty scenes, and how they move the picture on a drawn timeline while slowing down on every date so u can read it and keeps going back 20 years. Every single time the timeline is shown it's done in the same manner. Going over every date of employment u think ok they're talking about this era. Nope keep waiting.

Even limited series documentaries aren't that slow. The only documentary I watched that was worse than this was the Dennis nilsen one where the whole thing is the view of a tape recorder and narration. Not even background scenes or photos or maps or anything. Extremely lazy. Like watching paint dry. Literally.

These directors and editors need to understand that stretching scenes to get the docu to last longer than hour is easily noticeable by the viewer and it puts ppl off and lowers the rating. But I think all that happens after they all get paid so who cares right? Smh.

Netflix, shortly after releasing "the Good Nurse", featuring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain, put forth a documentary about the same events. The documentary follows Charles Cullen, an ICU nurse, who jumps hospitals every time he gets into trouble and finds most of his work in intensive care units, which handle patients with severe or life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

Cullen is mostly described by his coworkers as smart but corky, and a bit weird however overall a good nurse. He has a certain panacea for pharmaceuticals particularly remembering the name use of the medicines even for the rare ones.

After graduating with a nursing degree in 1986, Cullen started working for St Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. He went on a killing spree from 1986 until his arrest in December 2003. He repeatedly claimed that he wanted to end patients' lives to end their suffering, nonetheless, he killed patients who were getting better and sometimes as young as 21 years old.

Over the years he confessed to killing 40 people. Although when considering the time frame of roughly about 16 years of nursing and the relative ease of killing his patients, he is assumed to kill more than 400 people.

"Capturing the Killer Nurse" is the kind of documentary you watch with a bucket of popcorn, only to realize halfway through that maybe popcorn wasn't the right choice for a film about a nurse who's less about the TLC and more about the R. I. P. It's an okay watch-think of it as a true crime podcast but with visuals, so you no longer have to imagine what everyone looks like. The documentary does a commendable job of laying out the timeline and facts, like a Wikipedia article with a budget for dramatic reenactments and suspenseful music scores.

However, the film struggles to find its unique voice in the crowded room of true crime documentaries. It's like going to a costume party and finding out three other people wore the same "Killer Nurse" outfit. You appreciate the effort, but wish there was a bit more originality in the presentation. The interviews, reconstructions, and archival footage are all well and good, but they never quite elevate the material beyond the expected tropes. It's akin to a chef meticulously recreating a classic dish but forgetting that secret ingredient that makes you say, "Wow, I need the recipe!"

In the end, "Capturing the Killer Nurse" earns a solid 3.5 stars. It's the documentary equivalent of a B-minus student: reliable, does what's expected, but won't particularly astonish you with new insights or methods. You'll walk away informed, perhaps a little entertained, but unlikely to rush to your friends to discuss it. It's the perfect background noise for folding laundry or scrolling through your phone-capable of capturing your attention in brief spurts, but not guilty of stealing your entire evening.