To Catch A Killer

Procedural thrillers have a formula, which is one of the reasons they’re so popular. But the synopsis that came with this Sky Original is so familiar, I briefly wondered if it had been written by ChatGPT. But just because “a talented but troubled rookie detective wrestling with the demons of her past, when she is called to the scene of a brutal mass shooting - the work of a new and terrifying murderer” sounds familiar doesn’t automatically mean it would be terrible.

There’s room for manoeuvre in terms of character development, plus it is directed by Argentinian Damián Szifron, who made the joyfully inventive and savagely comic Wild Tales. In fact, there’s talent running like sparkling water right through this production, which also features Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn in the lead roles, cinematography from Javier Julia - whose credits include Wild Tales and Argentina, 1985 - plus a score from Coen Brothers regular Carter Burwell.

It’s the quality of all of these component parts that is what makes the end result feel like such a let down - as though you’ve been given the ingredients for the best cake ever and been served up an airless Victoria sponge. It’s not inedible in terms of the film diet but there’s little here to make you give it a second thought within an hour of the credits rolling.

Szifron proved with Wild Tales that he can spring a quick surprise and the opening sequence is terrific. New Year’s Eve in Baltimore is full of joy and the crack and bang of fireworks until they’re suddenly accompanied by deadly sniper shots out of the blue. At high-rise parties in one area of the city, single revellers are picked off like ducks in an arcade.

An explosion marks the spot where the sniper once stood and among those called to the scene is that “talented but troubled” cop, Eleanor (Woodley), although neither of these elements goes on to be particularly well articulated in a film that seems to have little interest in character development. She has the foresight to try to catch on camera phone those who are fleeing the building, before racing up to the scene. It’s here that things start what will become a downward trajectory. Firstly, given that a fire has just been extinguished, everyone seems remarkably able to wander about just touching things at will, as if nothing is hot or about to disintegrate. Then, there’s the spark of connection that happens between Eleanor and FBI lead agent Geoffrey Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn).

For reasons that are never fully made clear, the fact that she has a patchy history of self-harm and addiction makes her much more able, in Lammark’s opinion, to think like the killer. She’s brought in as a sort of FBI/cop go-between as Lammark fights higher ups who, of course, insist on making all the wrong moves, while attempting to inch closer to the lone wolf.

The palette of the film is that cool look that crime thriller directors can’t get enough of lately, but the problem for Szifron is the colour is drained from everything. The characters need a personality infusion and the killer’s motivation is on life support. The lack of a focus on the murderer can work if the tension lies elsewhere but the pace plods in between key incidents, while ideas surrounding American gun laws and QAnon are strafed into the mix without any real consideration. Detective Benson gets more psychological development in a weekly episode of Law & Order: SVU than Eleanor gets in the full two hours of this film, and no amount of good acting from Woodley can disguise the fact that her character is little more than skin deep. When a screenplay like this cares so little about its characters, it's no wonder we struggle to become invested too.