setlaw

. . . that is "The Killing". While blatantly and shamefully stealing its marketing ploy from "Twin Peaks" by repeatedly asking the now-totally-beside-the-point question of "Who Killed Rosie Larsen?", this has quickly become the worst piece of garbage that has ever found its way into television sets. The acting, the actors, the writing, the plotting, the red herrings, the characters, the "character development" (yikes!), the back stories, the direction, the music, the lighting, the videography, the intentional misdirection, the decision to stretch a tissue-thin storyline into a second season (and perhaps a third? God help us!), the constant rain, and the insulting assumption that everyone in the audience is either so naive or brain-dead that they'll just sit back and accept whatever AMC stamps its name on, are all so utterly GOD-AWFUL that this production would have to improve ten-fold (which over the course of two years it's already proved it can't do or won't do) in order to rise to the level of being a mere waste of time. I won't bore you with details, because it would require (i.e., waste) too much space, so I'll just tell you to avoid this dreck like the plague, and don't allow it to suck you in to watch even one episode. If you want a shorter review, then just accept this one: Rosie Larsen is LUCKY she's dead, so she doesn't have to watch this misery.

The writing and direction here are solid, but unspectacular, and if that were all there was, the movie, too, would be unspectacular. But what drives the entire endeavor is the acting. Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor are among that small group of actors who never give a bad performance, and that's certainly the case here. Michelle Williams, though, is another matter altogether: she is SO good, and SO deep, and SO nuanced, that she rises above what she had been in the past and simply makes this movie her own. Hers is one of those performances (there are two scenes where she delivers voluminous messages simply by a look, without a single word) that make you wholly reevaluate the actor's skill and intelligence; at least, it did that for me: I changed my opinion of her and her abilities, and I won't be able to look at her again in the way I had before. And I like experiencing that, so I like the movie much more for that fact. If you're a Michelle Williams fan, you really HAVE to see this film.

The only reason I gave this movie a rating of "1" is that no "zero" was available. "Death Sentence" may not be the worst movie ever made, but it's on the shortlist. The direction and cinematography are horrid, the plot, characterizations and writing are tired, predictable and derivative (of the screenwriter's OWN WORK, inexcusably) and the considerable talents of Kevin Bacon and Kelly Preston are --- from the opening scene through the closing scene --- wholly wasted on this mindless drivel. If you are a fan of either of those actors (as I am), you should avoid this mess, because it will leave a sour taste in your mouth for them and cause you to wonder about things like integrity. Even if you're not a fan of anyone involved in the movie, you should avoid it because it will try your patience (each scene is less plausible than the one it follows) and waste your life. It'll also cause eye fatigue . . . from excess rolling.