4/5 Tough Little Picture
  by drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA)
Sure wouldn't recommend it for the kids (although they probably take much worse than this in stride daily). I see it has been around a few years so is likely to be familiar to most who keep up with films. At any rate, if you can take more than a little violence, nasty pictures, and a touch of sadism, this one will grip you with its tale of a serial killer, the Canadian police whose job it is to find him, and, naturally, the beautiful FBI agent borrowed for the occasion to help the police. The stars and supporting players do a good job with appropriate scenery complementing the action admirably. Some twists and turns flavor the dish and a brief bit of modest nudity with suggestive sex, adds that extra touch of spice to go with the beauty.
Brief appearances by Kiefer Sutherland and Gena Rowlands are welcome touches.

5/5 Angelina Rides Again
  by C. F. Mullins (Springfield, OH)
Angelina Jolie does not disappoint. Guns don't shoot straight. Things don't always turn out the way you want them to. What else is new ? This show is a thrill from beginning to end. What an end !

2/5 Uninspired, unconvincing and unexciting.
  by RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
I'm a sucker for "serial killer" movies. I'm always on the search for the new SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, the new MANHUNTER, even the new SEVEN. But I am so often disappointed! Sometimes the movie fails to generate really good tension or suspense, and sometimes the movie fails to deliver a properly insane or creepy killer.

TAKING LIVES fails on both counts. It is never really exciting or interesting in terms of the "chase." And the killer, both when he is a mystery figure and when he is known to us, is not very threatening or interesting.

The film starts well enough. We meet two young men riding together on a bus, one played by troubled looking Paul Dano and the other by easy-going, devil-may-care Justin Chatwin. They have an easy, believable meeting of the minds, and as they journey on together, Dano kills Chatwin (in a startling, effective scene) and takes his identity. He takes his life, if you will (explaining the title). Years later, the killer is still at it, jumping lives. We don't know who he is anymore (Dano is out of the picture now, because his killer is now probably around 40 years old). The killer is working Canada, and the police there bring in the help of acknowledged serial-killer expert Angelina Jolie.

She dives into the case, and eventually unravels it and then much of the movie is spent in an effort to trap their man. There's very little serial-killing and lots of "oops, we just missed him" chase scenes. None are interesting.

The killer is very average in his cravings, and has no "fun" twists to his persona. Just a guy who kills people to take their identities. (And don't accuse me of callowness...this is entertainment, after all. In real life, sure, a killer like this is PLENTY scary enough.)

When the film was nearly over, it occurred to me that Jolie's character really did very little successful detective work. She interpreted a couple of clues, gave the Canadian police a very sketchy profile and then gets very lucky when a witness (Ethan Hawke) comes forward. If not for this witness, I don't think she would ever have caught her man. In many ways, the movie is about the developing relationship between Jolie and Hawke. Their interest gets very physical (and thus, Jolie becomes very unprofessional)...and I guess if you'd like to see a few moments of Jolie in a topless sex scene...this movie is ever slightly less bad than ORIGINAL SIN.

Olivier Martinez (who was once on his way to stardom after UNFAITHFUL...what happened there?) is on hand as a cop who deeply disapproves of Jolie. Keifer Sutherland is there as a suspect in about three scenes...and he speaks about five lines. Gena Rowlands appears as the killer's mother...I hope she was paid well, because her role is somewhat embarrassing.

Frankly, everyone should be mildly embarrassed. Sutherland looks deeply unhappy. Martinez just looks vaguely like he needs a bath. Ethan Hawke has no gravitas (and looks vaguely like he needs a bath). Frankly, Jolie seems more masculine than him. When he realizes that he and Jolie have a strong likelihood of having sex...he looks like a 13 year old boy who was given a $100 gift certificate for a candy store, not a man about to get lucky with a very beautiful woman. And Jolie tries so hard to be a serious, intelligent, hard-working detective...but somehow is not convincing for one single minute. I believe that she IS a serious and intelligent actress...but her performance just comes across as stiff and wooden. Later, she is allowed to let down her façade and just be "hot", but then she is no longer credible as a detective. There are no shades of grey in this performance...which is not helped by director D.J. Caruso's efforts to dwell on her striking features. It can be done...Eastwood directed her in CHANGELING and certainly his camera showed a lot of her...yet he was able to avoid the feeling that he was dwelling on her face just for the sake of dwelling. Caruso clearly just couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have this star in his film.

The film has a twisty ending...but it isn't really a surprise if you've seen even one or two other "thrillers" in your life. Even the Canadian locations, which could have been lovely, are mostly muddy and generic. That's the movie for you...generic.

4/5 Not the greatest film, but definitely not the worst!
  by Mira Doerfler (Somewhere in Ohio, USA)
I am a big Kiefer Sutherland fan, so when I heard he had a role in this film, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, Kiefer only has a small part, but I found the storyline very intriguing and the movie fun to watch.

If you're interested in the mind of a killer, I would check this movie out. It's definitely enjoyable and fun to follow each twist and turn of the story. Plus, there's a fair amount of eye candy. ;]

3/5 AJ, why do you let your mouth hang open like that?
  by Judy K. Polhemus (LA)
A telephone call is made in the final scene, leaving this viewer with questions. So...

Flashback two hours earlier to the beginning of the movie "Taking Lives" (a very pregnant title):
The kid on the bus is just so pitiful--shaggy hair, thick glasses, hang-dog look, a sure target of a serial killer, if one happens to be on the bus. (Because this is a movie about a serial killer, that scenario will likely happen.) The bus blows a tire, the kid and the friendly guy taking the seat next to him buy a dilapidated old car, and off they go. The car also blows a tire. Then the viewer gets to witness just how the serial killer uses an opportunity to his advantage to take another life, both literally and metaphorically.

Angelina Jolie with her Dolly Parton lips (over-sized--if those are her born-with-them lips, I apologize, but I suspect she supersizes them) is an FBI profiler and long-time friend of the department chief in Montreal where the body from the opening scene is found. He invites her onto the case.

The killer's favorite ruse is to smash his victim's face, among other horrifics he inflicts, and take his identity. The viewer learns later why this identity theft is a psychological necessity.

When Ethan Hawke's character, an art gallery owner, is brought in for questioning--he actually sees the alleged murderer--the question becomes: Is he the serial killer? Jolie's character shows why he isn't.

Stop. That's the first hour, the good hour, when the viewer thinks the film may reach classic proportions, when Hawke's character is released.

Most other reviewers will tell you why this movie dies from a wrong turn. I think it dies because the viewer is forced in the second hour to watch Jolie with her mouth hanging open, a technique she seems to favor because it is there in all her movies.

If you find my reason biased and repugnant, how about the implausibility of the contrived sex scene between an agent and a cleared suspect. OK, sex happens--maybe not so implausibly. Still, a question. Kiefer Sutherland is a suspect. He dies in a kidnapping accident. How convenient that he should die exactly at this point. There should be a question here.

That's how the second hour goes--questions are raised, but not in the proper context and not the right questions about the right things.

Gena Rowland plays the killer's mean-spirited mother, allowing the viewer a look into the neglected, destroyed heart of a killer, son of an emotional killer. Rowland inhabits that role.

While initially presenting a truly promising and very dark story, "Taking Lives" also takes the viewer on a death trip of sorts, that of a trip to disappointment. At least Jolie goes on to play Mrs. Smith and takes a new husband with that role.