An Officer and a Murderer

AN OFFICER AND A MURDERER (TV movie 2012) WARNING: VIOLENT REAL WORLD DEPICTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

He's out there...Pretending to be human 7 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:45min

BASIC PLOT: A fictionalized account of the crimes and capture of Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams (Gary Cole).

The film starts with Williams burglarizing homes, stealing underwear and other personal items, and through his behavior, attempting to demoralize the female population of his small Canadian town.

He escalates to sexual assault, and eventually commits two murders, while trying to frame a neighbor for the crimes.

The film also chronicles the hard work of Detective Jennifer Dobson (Laura Harris) and Detective Nick Gallagher (Rossif Sutherland), whose resolute determination, and dogged investigation, eventually brings down a predator, who had been shielding himself in his nation's military uniform.

WHAT WORKS: *GARY COLE. FULL STOP. Gary Cole's embodiment of this character is outstanding! He is both full of rage, and detached. His portrayal of Colonel Russell Williams is par excellence!

*THE WRITING IS ABOVE AVERAGE, especially for a made-for-tv movie. Keith Ross Leckie does a fine job with suspense, pacing, and with presenting a fact based story that is graphic, without being exploitative.

*THE ACTRESSES WHO PORTRAY THE WOMEN SURVIVORS GIVE JUST ENOUGH They all do a good job (especially Kristina Pesic & Emma Campbell) with a difficult subject matter, and it never crosses into torture porn. It is real enough to be disturbing, without being salacious.

*LAURA HARRIS IS EXCELLENT AS DETECTIVE JENNIFER DOBSON, THE SMALL TOWN DETECTIVE WHO IS EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS HER BIG CITY PARTNER Her boss, Captain Novack (Catherine Disher) thinks Detective Gallagher has more experience, and wants to listen to him. But in these situations, you should always listen to the women (the survivors), and the women detectives. They will pick up on things the men simply cannot. Detective Dobson (Laura Harris) proves this again and again, as her instincts lead to the correct killer.

*ROSSIF SUTHERLAND DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB PLAYING DETECTIVE NICK GALLAGHER, A MAN WHO DOESN'T TRUST HIS INTUITION, AND THEREFORE DOESN'T LISTEN TO THE SURVIVORS Men in general have a hard time even knowing what to say to victims of sexual assault, much less how to relate to, or understand where they're coming from. Part of this is victim blaming (I can pretend the victim did something wrong, something my wife, sister, mother wouldn't do, so my world "feels" safe.) Part of it is the complete misunderstanding (and refusal to try) by men, of what it's actually like to be a woman. When the police find the videos of the survivor Nick didn't believe, he can't even watch, while his female colleagues are scouring the video for clues. All women understand male violence, but all men do not. It's an unfortunate fact, and Rossif Sutherland does a good job representing this male flaw, common in the police.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *NOT SURE ABOUT THE REAL CASE... But in the movie, two cops don't believe one the survivors of sexual assault (Linda Godmere, the young mother). But the perpetrator left her in someone else's underwear. That could be easily verified by checking with the other victims who had their underwear stolen, and would substantiate her story.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would absolutely recommend this movie to fans of: true crime, Gary Cole, made-for-tv movies, or fans of cautionary tales for women. It's well done on a small budget, and I highly recommend it.

(I also recommend Cosy Cove Killings (2015) as a companion piece to this movie. It's the personal account of the neighbor with the redheaded daughter, Russell was so obsessed with in the movie. It's an interesting real look inside the terror this man caused in one neighborhood.)

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

All actors did a great job except Rossif Sutherland, who was robotic, very low energy, and just was totally unbelievable in the role. Unfortunately, he was a main character. Laura Harris, Gary Cole, and Catherine Disher put in superb performances.

I would have given it a higher rating except for the casting of Rossif Sutherland. This isn't the first time that Gary Cole has played the murderer in TV movie. He was great as Captain Jeffrey MacDonald in "Fatal Vision", which was another true to life multiple murder TV movie. Laura Harris was very believable in her role as was Catherine Disher.

There weren't any surprises in the movie, but as someone from the U. S. who had just heard a few details in the media when he was arrested, it was informative. The movie just focused on the crimes he was arrested for and didn't really go into much detail about his background nor did they focus on any personal relationships he had outside of his wife. It could have been improved if they had shown him in other personal relationships, but I'm guessing due to time constraints they limited what was included.

This is a very well paced and realistically made Lifetime movie about the true story of Canadian Air Force colonel Russ Williams. His gradual escalation from underwear theft to home invasion and murder is carefully and realistically portrayed here. Gary Cole gives a balanced and believable performance as the main character. The straightforward telling without flashbacks is good and the tension and fear of the victims is quite terrifying.

The police investigation is fascinating with the various mistakes and eventual breakthrough.

Looks like there are some crazy serial pervert killers up North too.

Worth a watch.

This film is based on a real story that happened in Canada.I enjoyed very much the story: with a lot a patience the detectives try to make a profile of a man who began stealing lingerie then killing women.And the most interesting is that the main suspect is an very important officer , commander of the military base of Trenton. The performances of Gary Cole, Laura Harris and Rossif Sutherland are very good.

This is a the story of the Canadian Base Commander, Colonel Russel William in Southern Ontario, who first started collecting panties and bras in home break-ins, then advancing to holding woman hostage for his amusement, and then graduating to rape and finally murder. And yes, Lifetime presents us with yet another white male gone bad movie of the week.

The main point of the story is that Commander Williams, is beyond reproach or even consideration as an unsub. He is even enlisted to help in the search and of course blames the crimes on some wood chucker (tree trimmer) who is a blue collar guy and the cops love him as a suspect because he looks like a suspect. They do not even consider the ramrod "correct" military commander as he is beyond suspicion. Ah, but those blue collar guys...they must have done it.

Frankly, the movie showed how cops usually pick the wrong suspect but in this case luck out by finding tire tracks. One of the lady cops,from Toronto, checks on a possible victim, Jessica, only to miss the SUV parked nearby and is remorse she didn't get the plate number. Why should she? The tree trimmer is safely locked up. Lucky tho the Commander screws up and leaves some tire tracks, which almost did not get reported because he is the Canadian Base "commander". Respect his au THOR EH Tee.

The base commander, played by Gary Cole and the cop played by Rossif Sutherland really have great nuanced performances. And the interrogation is more realistic than the "badgering cop" style so often depicted on TV.

Where is the psychologist talking about fetish clothing and personification of the victim through clothing while acting out erotic fantasies? Guess he/she was on vacation.

The pacing was good and the story told in a straight forward manner, and hard to believe it is an American film as it has "Made in Canada" stamped all over it as there is little action. Where are the police waving guns around, guns pointed at people, guns being fired, CSI special effects, more gun totting, cops yelling "get down on the ground" at the top of their lungs after they have consumed a dozen cans of Red Bull. Where is David Caruso pointing a gun at the suspect? Not here.

This movie does take an analytic how-it-happened approach which simply tells the story. It reminds me more of Columbo or Monk episodes than police "action" dramas.

Lifetime follows the movie up with a documentary, which is pretty much the movie without actors. An easy 3 hrs for Lifetime programming, but worth a view. When the ads say 'based on a true story' there will be little action, but a re-telling of events, hopefully as interesting as this movie. Thumbs up. It kept me home on a Saturdy night.