Reflections

The film that brought Timothy Hutton to my attention was The Dark Half. It was his skill at playing both writer and psychological killer which kept my attention. It's because of this performance that I watched this and his performance here, as the detective chasing a serial killer, pretty much carries the film.

This turns out to be a similar premise to the Stephen King story in the fact that there are twins; one is a man struggling to cope with his life and his brother, a psychotic serial killer. Unfortunately, Hutton is not playing that role. Miguel Angel Silvestre plays the brothers Marco and Roberto. This is not a spoiler as this isn't a major plot issue, and is revealed in the first section of the movie. Writers Darby Parker and Jay Beattie should have used this to at least create a little mystery, tension, and suspense, which would have made the film much better. Though the film really suffers from Silvestre's under-acting and woodenness. Each time he spoke all I could see was Jean-Claude Van Damme as he sounds exactly like him. Even JCVD would've added a bit more panache and power; also the fight scene's would have looked more realistic.

This is a "Columbo" style story. You're told who the killer is early on and then the story centres on the detective's chase and apprehension of the criminal. I much prefer the "Miss Marple" whodunnit murder mystery as it has the ability to bring the viewer into the story more.

Another issue with the film is the number of secondary cast members there are. This is detrimental to the film as it draws the story and the viewer away from the heart and vitality of the story. There's one scene that should have been critical to Timothy Hutton's character, Tom as he comes face to face with the death of his love. However, due to the story being stuffed to overflowing with superfluous scenes and characters we never get the time to relate fully to this pair's relationship so we don't feel Tom's loss and anger at that scene.

That said, the rest of the cast are pretty good in their portrayals of their characters. Director Bryan Goeres keeps the tempo of the film to an average pace. Once again, I think he could have infused a little suspense and tension by fluctuating the pace accordingly. If it wasn't for Hutton and the hope for a twist in the ending, as my imagination had conjured up a few, I would've hit the off button.

Then, when the twist comes, it's the obvious one. Boy did I feel let down, not just because the twist was the most obvious but because the story which led to it could have been improved by better showing the progression to the twist.

If you like Timothy Hutton or "Columbo" style movies then you may like this but don't expect too much from it. Otherwise, I would say, stay away.

In 2008's Reflections, Timothy Hutton plays a Europol agent, Tom Brindle, who travels to Barcelona to find a serial killer called Pygmalion.

When DNA from one of the murders is matched in a military database, Brindle thinks he's got his man, named Marco (Miguel Silvestre). But he's in for a surprise when Marco turns out to have been in lockup during the last murder.

Turns out that Marco has a monozygotic twin who is ten years older. Both are the product of in vitro fertilization; the egg was cut in half -- half implanted, half refrozen and not fertilized until ten years later.

Marco agrees to cooperate because it's believed that even though separated, he may share some of the same characteristics, hobbies, etc. as his twin and can be of help tracking him down.

Interesting idea not very well executed by a somewhat boring and slow film that nonetheless has some excellent acting by Timothy Hutton. If anyone ever started out on a high note, it was Hutton. I'm not sure what happened except that he should be where Sean Penn is today.

Beautiful Spanish locations.

This ambitious project cost a lot of Spanish dollars, and egos I imagine. Spanish cinema is alive and bursting with talent. Spain keeps gracing the world with talented actors and directors. That makes it even more difficult to understand why anybody decided to waste his money and good name on this movie.

It's the story of an experienced interpol inspector on the hunt for a serial killer, on the loose in the northwestern part of the Mediterranean.

It's clear that this was intended as a European take on one of the Fetish themes of American cinema, the serial killer. The centerpiece of the plot is actually a fresh take on the theme and in itself justifies to make the movie. Unfortunately, the execution fails in all domains.

Ambition ruled over skill, so many parts of the movie are clumsily executed. The first big miss is hiring Timothy Hutton. Hutton is unmotivated and frankly comes across as a bit of a prick. And I'm not referring to his role.

The other roles are better cast, although generally the movie could have used some reliable values in some of the smaller roles, notably Hutton's colleagues.

Besides the bad acting, the plump direction, poor attention to detail and the simplistic plot finish the movie off. It's a pity because some of the other main characters are played by excellent actors and with a bit more juice in some key parts this could actually have been a good thriller.

Now it's just a reheated leftover of your run-of-the-mill American thriller.

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!

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.