GJ: 1 and 1/2 Stars KM: 3 Stars GJ: You could call “The Watcher” a journey into the mind of madness artfully told and executed by masters. That is, if you were insane. Former FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader, “Stargate”) has relocated to Chicago after a leaving the Los Angeles bureau office when a serial killer David Allen Griffin (Keanu Reeves) killed his mistress. Now Griffin has followed him to the Windy City and sending him pictures of all of his victims. Campbell is drawn back into the case in spite of his drug dependency and shaky mental condition. Griffin sends Campbell photos of young women and gives him just 24 hours to find the girls before he kills them. The plot is weak as water. The setup is linear. In fact, the shortest distance between two points is no longer a straight line, it is the plot to this movie. Campbell gets a picture, tries to find the girl, girl gets killed, repeat a couple of times until the chain is finally broken. There are no surprises to this movie. We have been blessed with a slew of fine films about freaky serial killers in the last 10 years. “Seven,” “Fallen Angel,” “Summer of Sam” and “8mm” were all well made films that took murder out of the hands of the slasher films and put in the hands of competent, serious filmmakers. KM: The plot is actually pretty cool. Though there aren’t surprises jumping out at you every five minutes, it’s still interesting and fun to follow. Frequent surprises don’t make a good thriller movie, someone who thinks that is the insane one. “The Watcher” has just enough cool twists and turns to keep you watching, and it is far from being a slasher film. The fact that Jerrett even threw “8mm” into the category with “Seven” should show you how smart he is. GJ: “Seven” and “8mm” were both written by Andrew Kevin Walker and both involved murder investigations. Check it out, bleachjob. Keanu Reeves is a poor excuse for a serial killer. In “The Watcher,” Keanu Reeves is the least likely of all serial killers. He is boring. A serial killer needs a motive, a reason to be a sociopath. There is not the slightest hint of a reason for Griffin to do what he does. This is also largely the fault of the script. Griffin kills young women, but they don’t have anything in common, there is no similarity between the victims and anyone who has spent five minutes watching real crime documentaries knows this is unrealistic. KM: It’s true that Griffin’s motive is nowhere to be found, but Reeves is pretty good as a serial killer. It’s nice because you don’t have to hear his annoying voice all the time, and some serial killers have a pretty bland way of interacting with people just like Reeve’s acting. And he really does a good job of playing a fake nice guy turned psycho nice guy. GJ: Writers Darcy Meyers and David Elliot along with director Joe Charbanic failed miserably to give this killer any kind of serious motive, character or reason to be doing what he is doing. There was one brilliant scene where Campbell and half the Chicago police force are looking for a potential victim. The victim’s face has been plastered on TV screens and in the paper for 24 hours yet no one in the mall she works at has noticed her. A wry comment on our impersonal society? Maybe, but a cheaper shot has never been taken. While searching for this girl, the cops stop right in front of a glass elevator to discuss strategy and who is watching the cops from four feet away? The girl they are looking for. It was excruciatingly painful, the actors all had to act like they couldn’t see this girl who a blind man could have seen. It was just embarrassing. KM: Once again Jerrett totally missed the point. The film did say that she was very new to the city, she was shy and had no friends. The fact that no one realized it was her is because the writers were brilliantly showing that when people see things, they don’t really see things. If the situation doesn’t directly affect someone, they just don’t care. This is very evident when they are passing out flyers and Campbell physically forces people to really look at the pictures instead of just brush them off. GJ: She works in a mall for the love of god. Her picture is everywhere. She doesn’t go out for an Orange Julius and see her own picture? This is brilliant like a 40-watt light bulb in a brown out. The acting not only lacks luster, it lacks acting most of the time. Something tells me James Spader doesn’t need much prodding to act like a drugged out freak, he has spent the best part of his career playing freaks with issues. Keanu Reeves always plays the same character anyway, he just does them all at different levels. In “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” he was Keanu Reeves at full volume, level 10. Even in “Little Buddha” he was Keanu Reeves at level one. In “The Watcher,” we get Keanu at around level three: boring, sedate, slightly creepy, but void. KM: Spader pulls off his role well; he isn’t quite a drugged out freak, he is more a man who has gone through some tough times (which they clearly explain throughout the movie) and they are all because of Griffin. It’s fun to watch him get back on his feet and start working again, you see how good he is at his job and how much he truly cares about putting an end to Griffin’s antics. Reeves has totally sucked in the past, and will probably suck in the future. But “The Watcher” put him in a role that he is pretty believable in, even if you know he sucks. GJ: Marisa Tomei is in this movie for some reason, as Campbell’s shrink, Polly. I kid you not, a shrink named Polly. This part really should have been reserved for just about anyone but her, she isn’t doing her career any favors playing bit roles as victims. KM: Tomei is a nice touch to the film, and the fact that something as small as her name could make anyone so upset is pretty lame. Her acting is good but her character could have had more of a purpose and a little more depth. GJ: Yeah, that’s what I said, duh. “The Watcher” gets points for cinematography though. This film incorporates some nice verite shots of Chicago that does as much as possible to let you know this film was shot in Chi Town. But these points are really more for Chicago than the film. KM: The bottom line is that “The Watcher” is entertaining. Movies don’t have to dive deep into the mind and self-conscience or whatever Jerrett looks for. The acting wasn’t Oscar level by any means, but it’s a good movie that is fun to watch and is fairly easy on the mind.