Willed to Kill

Hmm. Don't know about 'Willed to Kill' but watching this may make you lose your will to live. It's the typical serial killer fare but somehow accomplishes the feat of being formulaic and implausible at the same time. Quite an achievement. First of all, it's full of totally lame (and I mean seriously limping) jokes and what the scriptwriters obviously believe is entertaining banter, which is entirely unamusing.

The lead character (a female detective) jumps from one wrong conclusion to another, going off gung ho and half-cocked whenever she has a lead, never telling anyone where she's going and quite often endangering herself and others in the process before finally, approximately two hours after the rest of us, working out who is really responsible.

The protagonist's stupidity is only surpassed by that of her colleagues who are continually pursuing even less likely suspects than she is. As a consequence, you soon lose interest in who did what or why. I think we're supposed to care about a possible romance between the two leads but as it is, they're so badly written, it's hard to give a damn.

Just seen that this movie was actually nominated for an award: Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series. Now that really is a mystery.

At first glance (if one was to be switching channels), this appears to be a normal cop film. However, within seconds, it is revealed that this flic is no more than a straight-to-tv movie that shouldn't be given any time. Though the plot seems interesting, a serial killer from decades past comes back and contacts the main investigator, the execution is absolutely horrendous. The acting cinematography were both abysmal, making it feel like a high-school production. Unfortunately, the TV I was using was able to block the ad breaks, giving my no release from this movie's dead-pan lines and egregiously bright scenes.

Truly a modern classic.

It should be said from the start that this is a notch above the typical Lifetime movie. The lead actress is far better than most, and the story is above average. The film employs a familiar trope: the detective is contacted by the murderer during the course of her investigation. The murderer uses a voice distorter and speaks regularly with the detective by telephone. The bad guy is filmed in such a way as not to reveal his identity: from behind, in a shadow, from non-revealing angles. You've seen this many times before. Sometimes the viewer is allowed a bare glimpse of the murderer's chin or nose, but not enough to enable you to recognize the character. - Well, that's how it's supposed to work. But incredibly, the murderer is filmed in several shots so that his identity is clear. The filmmaker shows too much. This is clearly unintentional - you're not supposed to know which character, who, as in all these movies, turns out to be a character you're already familiar with but are not supposed to suspect, will turn out to be the culprit. But you do know, well before the final reveal, if you've been watching with only casual attention. This strikes me as a huge blunder. If you want to be kept in suspense, don't look at the murderer in the scenes in which he is on the telephone with the detective. If you do look, you'll recognize him.

The clues are laid out thoughtfully through-out the investigation. Clues pointing to many different suspects until only 2 real suspects remain. Many red herrings and dead-ends add to the story and forces the viewer to re-think their conclusions. Everything adds-up, there are no hidden facts. The acting was adequate and the pace was very good. I did not see any glaring errors, that are often seen in these low-budget type movies. Everything was quite logically put together and the suspense built at good pace. A very good crossword style mystery. If you like Agatha Christie style who-dun-its, you should appreciate this movie. Definitely worth watching.

I actually liked it. Decent story line, plot was good, main actress was good. While I watched I had come to the conclusion that the seriel killer was one of 2 people, I was right, then it came down to catching the killer and my suspicions were right. Over all I liked worthy looking at it has more intellect then most dumb comedies these days