Reflections

Since Movie Mix has been taken over by Sony it's had some little gems on in the mornings. Called thrilling mornings it's been a lot better. I'm a fan of a lot of films because I always think of the sheer hard work to make a movie. Anyway this film is a pretty good film. You can see the level of acting and sets the filmography all of it's good. I think assessing it as a longer version of Law and Order is a bit mean to both Reflections and Law and Order. So this is a little gem. Good plot interesting culture shock as it's set in Spain. How outrageous is that? No I think it being out of the usual Quantico USA setting helps it. Timothy Hutton is good as the tired out FBI officer All supporting Spanish actors have lots to offer. It's really well done. It keeps you guessing how it's going to play out and has a few surprises along the way. Keep it up Sony Movie Channel. For free view you're pretty good and now you've upped the ante let's hope others follow suit. I love a good black and white movie but movies for men should actually put some classics on not weird Ed Wood type films made on a budget of three pence! There is a place for them just not for 24 bloody hours on a constant loop.

"Reflections" is a mediocre criminal profiler vs deranged serial killer murder mystery that combines elements of television's "Dexter" with the Jean Reno/Vincent Cassels flick "Crimson Rivers", while playing out like a prolonged episode of "Law & Order".

In the film, we find ourselves following Tom (Timothy Hutton), an American Criminal Profiler working for Interpol, who has been brought to Spain in order to track down a serial killer that is responsible for stalking and ritually murdering a series of women. They arrest a man named Marco based on the presence of his DNA at four of the crime scenes. Thinking they have an open and shut case, the investigators are dumbstruck when they find out that Marco has an indisputable alibi, and could not possibly be the killer. Turns out that, in a bizarre twist of fate, Marco- who was, himself, born to adopted surrogate parents using a banked sperm & embryo- has a twin brother that was born from another mother (the woman who donated the egg he was born from) & a banked sperm...and the two men actually have the exact same DNA, despite the fact that Marco was born 10 years after his genetically identical "brother".

They cloak the serial killer character in a veil of mystery, as Tom and his fellow psychologist/rekindled love affair decide to understand the killer by profiling his twin brother-from-another-surrogate-mother-born-10-years-later, Marco.

At first I found myself a bit turned off by the low budget crime scene, whose blood looked like a combination of raspberry and strawberry jam (they do explain why it's like that, to their credit), but that went to the back of my mind as I found myself becoming immersed in the intriguing plot. The screenplay places a heavy emphasis on the development of the investigation, particularly focusing on the relationship between Tom and Marco, while purposefully neglecting to develop the serial killer/killing side of the story; only briefly referencing it here and there so we don't forget someone is actually still out there killing people (in ever "quicker cycles"...apparently). The reason for this becomes evident in the film's conclusion.

Despite the overwhelming focus on the investigation portion of the storyline, the way the writers have Tom "connecting" things is often times ridiculous, especially in the latter part of the film that leads up to the finale. Entire sections of the film felt rushed, and it seemed that they tried to push too much into the conclusion without having previously developed it much at all.

Overall the plot ends up being a mash-up of elements from "Dexter" and "Crimson Rivers" (if you've seen them, you'll know what I mean), with the storyline playing out like a long overly-immaculate episode of "Law & Order". I like Timothy Hutton, but I hope this was a favour as opposed to "what his career has come to". It's watchable if you are into the serial killer vs criminal profiler genre, but don't expect to be amazed. 4.5 out of 10.

A good serial killer movie with breathless Spanish locations and very gorgeous Spanish women. It is always good to see Timothy Hutton acting. Once he was one of the most gifted actors of his generation. He made some bad choices in his career. But his presence in the screen is positive as usual. The movie is very interesting both because of the plot and the characters. The subject of genetic generation of people is very present and also scary. The serial killer movies usually are very repetitive. This one has several novelties. In my opinion the great problem here is the screenplay that is very obvious in its solutions. If you like a thriller, you can see it.

Tim Hutton was wooden in his acting and seemed to be not very interested in putting life into this tale. Some of the supporting actors/actresses did a good job, but overall I found it all a waste of time. There were no redeeming features by the end, for me. A thriller it most certainly was not.

The movie is easy to watch just for the scenery and individual performances - Timothy Hutton, Miquel Angel Silvestre, Tania Sarrias - but the screenplay does not take advantage of any of the characters' depth. Some twists and interesting new takes on forensics and genetics, but a little too much straight-line progression. The international cast is strong and should have been given more room to interact and participate. For a serial killer movie, some graphic violence is expected but the few moments of it in this movie seem to stand alone and not help the whole. More time with characters and less simply talking over static crime scenes would have helped. Overall, worth watching once. Cheers!