Taking Lives
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 19, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
16
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A somber, absorbing thriller that treads familiar psycho serial killer terrain with style. Elegantly made and comparatively restrained in cramming sick and grisly stuff down the audience's throat. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A certain genre of thriller depends more upon style and tone than upon plot; it doesn't matter if you believe it walking out, as long as you were intrigued while it was happening. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
If only Taking Lives had given Jolie a greater foil than Ethan Hawke -- a young Kevin Spacey or Jack Nicholson say -- the film might have been a B-movie classic. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The movie voids a lot of good will with a cheesy ending. This is just the kind of denouement I was hoping Taking Lives wouldn't sink to, yet it does. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Smarter than your average serial-killer movie, thanks to unusually fleshed-out characters inhabited by a high- pedigree cast. Read full review
63
PremierePeter Debruge
Sexy, stylish, and legitimately suspenseful. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Clearly, much care and intelligence have been lavished on discouraging, routine material. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
From a technical standpoint, Taking Lives is competent and sometimes even impressive. It is cleanly edited and nicely shot -- at times as cool and rich as a York Peppermint Pattie. Beyond that, there is not much to say. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
By the time we get to the unsurprising surprise ending, what seemed innovative and challenging in Taking Lives has lost its juice and reverted to formula form, and we leave the theater with that same old let-down feeling of having endured a ritual one more time. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
After ''Seven'' and three ''Hannibal'' hits, the audience tolerance for baroque serial-killer flourishes has been duly amped. We require sustained creativity in our sick violence, and Taking Lives, after a token bit of ghastly foreplay, loses its life. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
By the pseudo-shocking end, we're half-entertained by the dedicated cast and half-lulled to sleep by the dull, overfamiliar sounds they make. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
If Taking Lives starts off with a modicum of wit and creepy-crawly scares, it winds up somewhere else altogether: in the cliche-strewn land of preposterous red herrings. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
No amount of technical skill can substitute for genuine shivers, and in the fright department this picture rarely lives up to its hype. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This multiple-twist thriller gets off to a fine, creepy start but eventually becomes too preposterous for its own good. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
The tense, stylish thriller turns into soft-core, slapdash psychodrama. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Ho-hum, another serial-killer thriller. Even with Angelina Jolie thrown in for forensic sex appeal, this dog won't hunt. Read full review
50
Film ThreatStina Chyn
Has a lot going for it, but two-thirds of the way through, things fall apart. The film’s weaknesses are directly tied to the narrative. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Sadly, Taking Lives, adapted from a novel by Michael Pye, proves to be one long wallow in elements that have long since had their effectiveness dulled flat. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
It's slick nonsense at best and for the first hour it's watchable. There's cheap entertainment to be had from a thriller in which two detectives are played by beauties as ravishing as Jolie and Martinez. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
On the plus side, it isn't boring, and Jolie and Ethan Hawke, who plays an art dealer and key witness, generate a certain amount of edgy chemistry. But eventually the filmmakers' desire to shock and tease overtakes any feeling for character or common sense. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
Caruso is a much more resourceful director than this material deserves, but I resented being two steps ahead of the genius profiler and the genius serial-killer. Read full review
40
EmpireJo Berry
It's not hard to figure it out, but Caruso manages to throw in some tense moments that almost -- but sadly not quite -- make up for the film's daft ending. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Even though Taking Lives is not very good, it does contain a) a cool car chase and b) a sex scene in which Jolie goes topless. For some, this will be enough entertainment. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The serial-killer thriller of the week, should have gotten a life of its own instead of trying to steal it from Michael Pye's novel of the same name and several other movies. Read full review
30
Village VoiceEd Gonzalez
If the Naqoyqatsi-lite score by Philip Glass doesn't exactly make sense of the film's sketchy identity politics, it does complement its utter ridiculousness. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Nosedive it does, abandoning all pretense of style and eccentricity for at-times laughable predictability and a parade of unconvincing red herrings straight out of Murder Mystery 101. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
The film's finale is truly egregious, a laugh-out-loud combination of ludicrousness and sadism that someone somewhere probably found scary, assuming they never saw a thriller before. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Taking Lives would have to work nights to reach mediocrity. Read full review
25
USA TodayMike Clark
The trouble with indulging Taking Lives is that it's taking your time. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Because the characters in the movie have only stock obsessions and vague personal histories, there's no reason to be interested in them. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
If you can buy the pillow-lipped Angelina Jolie as a psychic FBI agent in Montreal to hunt a serial killer, then you can swallow the other implausibilities in this retread thriller. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Caruso, who showed flair in the Val Kilmer vehicle "The Salton Sea," has a penchant for the dark side. In this case, it's the plodding, predictable ZIP code of the dark side. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
A twist ending in search of its movie. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
Jolie is far too good for this tripe but she does give the film its only believable moments, and for the first half, her concentration makes you watch her intently. Read full review
16
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Pretty much the worst recent example of a genre. Read full review
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