The Bone Collector

Name: The Bone Collector
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Crime
Released: November 5, 1999
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 45
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Denzel Washington

1999

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Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 105 Ratings

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5.2	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 105 Ratings

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The Bone Collector

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 5, 1999 | R

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Denzel Washington

Summary: A diabolical killer whose brutal slayings leave a trail of cryptic messages hidden at the scene of the crime is loose on the streets of Manhattan. As the city lies in fear, a gifted but disabled detective (Washington) teams with a rookie street cop (Jolie) to go inside the mind of this terrifying madman and defeat him at his own game.A diabolical killer whose brutal slayings leave a trail of cryptic messages hidden at the scene of the crime is loose on the streets of Manhattan. As the city lies in fear, a gifted but disabled detective (Washington) teams with a rookie street cop (Jolie) to go inside the mind of this terrifying madman and defeat him at his own game. (Universal Studios)… Expand

Director: Phillip Noyce

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

Jami Bernard

Slick entertainment. Read full review

Gary Thompson

Weaknesses are confirmed in the movie's laughable climax.

Eric S. Arnold

May be formulaic...but many good recipes are. Read full review

Sara Wildberger

The plot and characters are simultaneously far-fetched and cliched, the dialogue has that jocular, slightly slower than sitcom ring, and the ending is a righteously cheesy letdown.

Film.com Robert Horton

Sometimes star power alone can keep you from walking out of a movie, and this is one of those times. Read full review

David Sterritt

This variation on the "Rear Window" format works best when director Noyce gives free rein to Washington's thoughtful charm. Read full review

F. X. Feeney

By the last third, one is sick to death of seeing people tortured, no real catharsis is offered, and stupid is how one feels. Read full review

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User Reviews

Marica

Aug 27, 2014

"Destiny is what we make it" - Lincoln Rhyme.

I expect to be a great movie..but is disappointed.Great Actors...but a "meh" story and so boring.

.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

eva3si0n

Jul 23, 2021

The Bone Collector is a classic thriller from the 90s. The only thing here, although they tried to make a strong and courageous main character, were completely mistaken in the actor. Angelina Jolie is too weak an actor to play such roles. If the same Julianne Moore or Sigourney WeaverThe Bone Collector is a classic thriller from the 90s. The only thing here, although they tried to make a strong and courageous main character, were completely mistaken in the actor. Angelina Jolie is too weak an actor to play such roles. If the same Julianne Moore or Sigourney Weaver starred here, then the film would be perceived differently. And so this is a good thriller, but no more. The story twist worked for me.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

wout

Jan 25, 2013

I love the actors/actress in this movie, especially Denzel Washington, but the movie itself, the story is terrible. I guess this is supposed to be a thriller, but when I watched it, it felt more like comedy, so bad and so unrealistic that it's funny, there were times when I couldn't stopI love the actors/actress in this movie, especially Denzel Washington, but the movie itself, the story is terrible. I guess this is supposed to be a thriller, but when I watched it, it felt more like comedy, so bad and so unrealistic that it's funny, there were times when I couldn't stop laughing, add some good acting and this movie is definitely watchable… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

MovieMasterEddy

Apr 4, 2016

'Bone Collector': A Taxi Ride to Torture Provokes a Chase!

Since movies keep pushing the envelope of the acceptably gruesome, even the nastiest sights glimpsed in Phillip Noyce's preposterous thriller "Bone Collector" should strike jaded moviegoers (those who relished "Seven," for'Bone Collector': A Taxi Ride to Torture Provokes a Chase!

Since movies keep pushing the envelope of the acceptably gruesome, even the nastiest sights glimpsed in Phillip Noyce's preposterous thriller "Bone Collector" should strike jaded moviegoers (those who relished "Seven," for instance) as ho-hum shocks.

A woman found shackled in the bowels of New York and cooked alive by scalding steam resembles a giant oozing radish. A young man, also held underground in shackles, is discovered covered with squirming rats that, when dispersed by a gunshot, reveal his greedily picked-over body.

Near the end of the film, during a life-and-death tussle, one character sinks his teeth into the jugular of his attacker and emerges looking like a vampire with unusually sloppy table manners.

These unsettling moments have become par for the course in a modern horror thriller. And "The Bone Collector," which stars Denzel Washington as a brilliant forensic detective tracking down a serial killer who leaves elaborate clues near his victims' bodies, is an efficient purveyor of such stock genre jolts.

In addition to corpses and gushing veins, those jolts include the usual false alarms: harsh musical clangs, slowly turning doorknobs and menacing shadows. There is even one glowering, character whom the movie blatantly manipulates us into assuming is the culprit.

The killer meets his victims in a way that should tap into a paranoid New Yorker's worst nightmares. He picks them up in a taxi, at the airport or Grand Central Terminal, locks them in his car and speeds off into the middle of nowhere.

Most find themselves strung up in deserted turn-of-the-century slaughterhouses and abandoned subway stations that resemble medieval torture chambers.

Although there is nothing remotely believable about this drawn-out cat-and-mouse game of a movie crossed with a whodunit, that's almost the point. "The Bone Collector," adapted from a novel by Jeffery Deaver, is a cinematic game that might be called Urban Creep Show, New York-style, and its rules are comfortably predetermined.

We can be pretty sure that the hero, Lincoln Rhyme (Washington), a detective who has been a quadriplegic for four years and suffers from seizures, any of which could reduce him to a vegetative state, will outwit the demon killer.

The gimmick is that Lincoln can solve the case without budging from bed. Using a computer and an illuminated viewing screen to pore over the evidence, he is able to make impossible, lightning-quick determinations about where the next victim is likely to found.

Communicating by cell phone with Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), a beautiful young police officer (and former model) whom he has drafted as his assistant, he instructs her on what to look for at the crime scene and how to handle the evidence.

The role of Lincoln is a piece of cake for Washington, who departs from his customary Boy Scout mode to display matching streaks of imperiousness and cunning. The film revels in close-ups of Washington's handsome face, whose glinting eyes and dazzling teeth do a seductive duet.

The camera is even more enamored of Ms. Jolie, with her impossibly sensual lips and eyes that brim with a soft melting fire. In sheer smoldering screen charisma, Ms. Jolie has every other young Hollywood actress beat hands down. Whether she can really act remains to be seen.

Because Lincoln is a quadriplegic, the film suggests that there is little hope of a sexual relationship between him and Amelia. But in the same way that it delivers jarring false alarms, the movie suggests an unacknowledged erotic heat between its stars. Unlike so many other screen couples nowadays, these two have chemistry.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

EpicLadySponge

Jun 15, 2016

The Bone Collector refuses to create fun, thus makes bone collecting in general look insanely boring and I can tell you that any bone collector would never say that.

0 of 4 users found this helpful04

NameOfAccount

Sep 9, 2018

Isn't there some rule of writing whodunits that says you never introduce the culprit as a random nobody in the last act? There are times when breaking the rules works fantastically well; this was not one of those times. An abysmal waste of Denzel Washington second only to 'The Equalizer'.

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Vinci60

Apr 24, 2021

Very dumb climax - the motive for a long series of complex murders is absolutely unsustainable

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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94	#94 Most Discussed Movie of 1999
31	#31 Most Shared Movie of 1999