To Catch A Killer review: A bloated and predictable waste of talent

Shailene Woodley plays a young police officer trying to hunt down a mass murderer in this high-stakes thriller

Shailene Woodley plays a police officer with a tortured past in To Catch a Killer. Photo: FilmNation Entertainment

To Catch A Killer begins in a brutal but gripping fashion.

As the city of Baltimore celebrates the start of the New Year, an unseen sniper shoots and kills 29 of its residents, using the exploding fireworks as cover. Young police officer Eleanor Falco (Shailene Woodley) manages to track down where the bullets are coming from, only for the killer to leave and then blow up the apartment before she can catch him.

Falco’s efforts are enough to impress the FBI’s chief investigator Geoffrey Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn), who recruits her to help him and his team with the nationwide manhunt. But as the serial killer becomes more and more dangerous, the pair struggle to find him. Their efforts are further complicated by the FBI’s repeated efforts to keep the public and media happy. But Falco’s past trauma might just be the key to finding the killer and bringing him to justice.

Argentinian director Damian Szifron — whose film Wild Tales and TV show Los Simuladores were both hugely popular in his home country — opens To Catch A Killer off with a style and excitement that suggest the crime thriller is in good hands. Set to a pounding score, each death from the sniper is shot in a way that leaves viewers guessing as to who is going to die next. Later scenes feel just as nerve-racking.

Alongside cinematographer Javier Julia, Szifron also creates a haunting and atmospheric look that feels similar to the likes of Zodiac and Collateral, while its use of snow adds a beauty the makes the film even more visually attractive.

Unfortunately, To Catch A Killer doesn’t have the script — and tries to include way too much thematic substance — to match Szifron and Julia’s impressive visuals.

After its captivating opening act, it quickly starts to lose steam as it alludes to Falco’s troubled past without giving viewers enough to relate to. Woodley tries her best with the flat character, but the material doesn’t allow her to really make an impression.

Instead, Szifron and Jonathan Wakeham’s script is too interested in attacking everything from the local police, the FBI, CNN and the rest of the media, to the NRA, prescription drugs and capitalism. While there’s the odd punch and line of dialogue that lands, most of its critiques feel like the sort of half-baked ramblings you’ll find on an internet forum.

To be fair to Szifron, To Catch A Killer does make a clear attempt to tell a modern serial killer story. Ralph Ineson’s Dean Possey, the trained marksman who goes on numerous murderous rampages, is a disenfranchised loner looking to leave his mark after a lifetime of alienation.

Shailene Woodley as Eleanor Falco, Jovan Adepo as Mackenzie and Ben Mendelsohn as Geoffrey Lammark in To Catch a Killer. All photos: FilmNation Entertainment

Woodley plays a young police officer with a tortured past

Ben Mendelsohn as Geoffrey Lammark in the film

In To Catch a Killer, authorities are on the hunt for a sniper who has gone on a killing spree during New Year's Eve celebrations

Jovan Adepo as Mackenzie, an FBI agent

In fact, Szifron actually does too good a job of depicting such a character and recreating how the media would showcase his actions. Considering that the news is regularly filled with stories of such tragedies, To Catch A Killer quickly begins to feel joyless, depressing and even a challenge to watch. Especially because the script doesn’t have anything insightful or even thought-provoking to say on the matter.

Szifron, however, repeatedly saves the film from these issues. Every time it feels as though it’s about to succumb to tedium, he deploys a cinematic flourish or storytelling device to hook viewers back in again. Plus, each of its set pieces feel tense and compelling in places, and it also helps that it has actors of the calibre of Woodley and Mendelsohn to elevate the mediocre material.

But To Catch A Killer ultimately unravels with its woeful final act. Not only does it slow the pace of the film down completely, but it tries to over explain its characters’ motivations and plot. As a result, any minor goodwill that you have for To Catch A Killer dissipates as it trudges towards its predictable ending that’s more likely to leave you incensed than satisfied.