Suspect Zero 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Suspect Zero never really escapes the shadow of Se7en but has more to say -- and show -- than most of that movie's imitators. Read more

Peter Debruge, Miami Herald: Unless this is your first serial-killer movie, you've no doubt seen it all before. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's so drenched in deviant style and cinematic trickery that its peculiar story almost becomes overwhelmed. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A violent, depressing and often ridiculous waste of time. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Merely adequate. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [A] visually jarring, psychologically daring trip that explores terror in a fresh, if crazy, manner. Read more

Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It never builds characters to care about or a story that gets much better than its tricky, paranormal premise. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: There are some surprising turns of the story, and Eckhart and Kingsley are watchable performers, but Suspect Zero never escapes the rut of a standard serial-killer whodunit. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: This movie isn't talking to us, it's talking to other serial killer movies. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: An apt metaphor for the times. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: [A] pretentiously made and excruciatingly dull thriller. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: I don't believe the message, least of all as Merhige obsessively paints it, in a rain-drenched genre study in which every character is photographed on a tilt, or in extreme close-up. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Suspect Zero may be nonsense but at least it's not bland nonsense. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Visually strong but ultimately hollow. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: One of those agonizingly routine police procedurals. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: What starts out as a crafty spin on the serial killer subgenre submits to overheated convention. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The movie is a black hole of failed ambition that mystifies on every level and offers zero payoff. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: If it's true that the state of New Mexico floated an interest-free, $7.5 million loan for the makers of Suspect Zero in exchange for 2.5% of the film's profits, look for a taxpayer revolt in the Land of Enchantment. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Finally, a serial-killer movie so preposterous it may actually put a permanent kibosh on this tediously overworked crime subgenre. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Suspect Zero is intriguing enough to be worth deciphering. It just delivers zero scares. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Too devised and elaborate to really engage us. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Its junkiness shines through its posh patina. Exploitation is just no fun anymore, now that it's all so damn tasteful. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This is a mystery in which there is no mystery. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Suspect Zero is that rare case of a dull idea redeemed by sharp talent. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Perhaps a better title for this mess would have been Avenging Angels in America or, better yet, The Silence of the Logic. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: A plodding and familiar 'cop sees what the killer sees' riff that plays like a poorly inflated The X-Files episode. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Slips on the banana peel of exaggerated fear factor, falling facedown with the introduction of an uber-creep serial killer (Ben Kingsley) grimly stalking some hapless prey. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Suspect Zero knows from creepy . . . and compelling. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A grisly, depraved and wholly uninvolving exercise in empty mannerism. Read more