Shailene Woodley Plays a Modern-Day Clarice Starling

When we think of present-day crime procedurals, Nic Pizzolatto’s hit HBO series often comes to mind. And based on what we’ve seen in the True Detective season four trailer, Academy Award winner Jodie Foster will take center stage, again inhabiting a troubled law enforcement persona. She last took home Oscar gold playing detective Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. And until the Alaska-set True Detective installment hits the masses, Shailene Woodley is trying to catch her own killer in her new big-screen effort.

In fact, her movie is aptly titled To Catch a Killer, and it’s got Emmy winner Ben Mendelsohn playing her boss. The two of them are reliably solid in their detective/police roles, but one could argue it’s not enough to save their rather formulaic new crime procedural. Here’s our take.

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A Nationwide Manhunt

To Catch a Killer centers on Eleanor (Woodley), a young police investigator wrestling with the demons of her past. She means well, as demonstrated in a first-act restaurant scene where she’s able to take command with her law enforcement title while respecting the civilians around her.

Eleanor is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Mendelsohn) to help profile and track the work of a disturbed individual, who we first glimpse in a pretty horrific opening sequences where Baltimore residents are dropping like flies across the city as an unknown sniper fires off rounds. When we think crime in Baltimore, hit series like The Wire and We Own This City come to mind. To Catch a Killer is arguably less layered than David Simon’s work, but it’s tense and mysterious enough to keep us watching until the killer is finally revealed in the third act. Until then, however, the police and FBI launch a nationwide manhunt and are thwarted at every turn by the individual’s unprecedented behavior.

Shootouts and Face-Offs

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Given her tortured psyche, Eleanor may be the only person who can understand the mind of their assailant and bring him to justice. Her boss has his own troubled backstory, but that won’t deter the two of them from finding the bad guy. A determined fellow officer named Mackenzie (Jovan Adepo) joins the fun, and watching the three of them share scenes together — three talented, awards-caliber actors — are where the film succeeds the most.

And as law enforcement seemingly arrest every paranoid quack in sight, anxious to eliminate the all-encompassing public pressure, our central trio search for their perp in their own, methodical fashion. That frustrates politicians who want quick results (a dynamic better illustrated by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws — remember the mayor of Amity Island?). The situation is worsened when there’s yet another mass shooting.

For action lovers, a convenience store shootout that unfolds late in the second act will surely tickle your fancy. And then, the third act provides an interesting change of location as Eleanor tracks the killer out of urban Baltimore and into a woodsy location in the middle of nowhere. The face-off sequence here is chilling, but not enough to forgive the somewhat straightforward nature of the rest of the film.

To Catch a Killer’s Cast Elevates the Film

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Film buffs know that Shailene Woodley solidified her status as a star in the Divergent film series, which was based on the popular YA book series. A more critically acclaimed effort from Woodley was The Fault in Our Stars, and on TV, she held the screen well in both seasons of HBO’s Big Little Lies. Woodley recently wrapped production on Michael Mann’s upcoming film, Ferrari, alongside Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz.

Until that hits theaters, she’s a captivating leading lady in To Catch a Killer, which was directed by Damián Szifron. Folks might remember that in 2014, Szifron wrote and directed Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales), which happened to be produced by a little known filmmaker named Pedro Almodóvar. The film competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. It’s one of the most successful Argentinian films of all time.

Given how groundbreaking Wild Tales was, To Catch a Killer is arguably a step back for Szifron, but not because of the cast. Ben Mendelsohn is a critically acclaimed and award-winning actor who carried a different crime-related project on HBO, called The Outsider. He’s pretty darn good as a lead actor in both that series and his new Baltimore-set film.

Then there’s Babylon star Jovan Adepo, an instantly recognizable actor who was Emmy nominated for his powerhouse performance in arguably the best episode of Damon Lindeloff’s Watchmen. And speaking of Lindelof, Adepo was also terrific in The Leftovers. It’s no surprise, then, that the dynamic between him, Mendelsohn, and Woodley is fun to watch in To Catch a Killer, but the tale in general isn’t entirely unique enough to distinguish itself from past true crime-inspired projects on both the big and small screen.

From Vertical Entertainment, To Catch a Killer is now in theaters.

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