27 Years Later, Denzel Washington's Underrated 118-Minute Psychological Thriller Hits Prime Video
Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
The idea of being able to find hidden gems or underrated marvels in Denzel Washington’s body of work almost feels like a contradiction in terms. He is a legend of considerable magnitude and basically a walking seal of approval to the extent that you can completely forget misguided oddities like Heart Condition, or when he played a British military veteran with a quite remarkable accent in For Queen and Country. So, in other words, his resume is not unblemished.
And there are genuinely under-appreciated Washington works in there, too. John Q was unfairly mauled by critics (hence a near 50% gap between their score and the audience score), and the unthinkably low critical score for Man on Fire. It’s difficult to square that reception with the actual movies, especially when Washington brings the same level of command and intensity that is essentially a trademark of his career.
For every Training Day, American Gangster, and Malcolm X, there are lesser-appreciated gems like Fallen and Deja Vu, which seem to suffer in memory solely because of their association with the actor’s masterclass performances. In that same bracket sits the 1999 adaptation of psychological thriller The Bone Collector, from Clear and Present Danger director Phillip Noyce. Now, 27 years on, The Bone Collector has finally landed on Prime Video, and you can see for yourself why it deserves a reconsideration and more praise.
The Bone Collector Is An Underrated Thriller Gem
Based on the novel by crime veteran Jeffrey Deaver, The Bone Collector is mean and atmospheric, teaming Washington with a young Angelina Jolie for a great dynamic of veteran and green recruit. He plays a forensics expert, paralyzed by an accident and bed-bound, and drawn into an increasingly personal hunt for a serial killer, with Jolie’s cop acting as his stand-in to investigate crime scenes with his support via a video link.
Deaver’s novels tend to weave complex but entertaining narratives, and The Bone Collector almost feels like a crime you’d expect Batman to be investigating. It’s theatrical, grim, and gruesome enough to belong to Gotham City, and the twist reveal at the end is something you’d expect from Bruce Wayne’s storied past. And Jolie basically acts as Washington’s Robin, more innocent and morally straightforward, while he is more willing to break rules to solve crimes (and prevent more), and somewhat more nihilistic because of his condition and fear over his future. It’s a good recipe for chemistry.
It’s also a different type of performance for Washington, whose performances often rely on commanding physical presence. Here, his Lincoln Rhyme cannot move, and the performance is stripped of any of the physical dynamism that is associated with his action roles. Despite the constraint, he’s still great, selling Rhyme’s own trauma and frustration, as well as his intellect. Yes, some of the plot is cartoonishly convoluted, and the pay-off might feel like a cliché to more cynical viewers, but this is prime popcorn thriller material.
Despite critics not being bowled over, The Bone Collector scored a late endorsement from former homicide detective Pat Postiglione, who gave its portrayal of police procedure the expert's stamp of approval.
Why The Bone Collector is Secretly Perfect for Se7en Fans
Best of all for psychological thriller fans, The Bone Collector is very much a stylistic and narrative sibling of David Fincher’s Se7en. Like that masterpiece, Noyce bathes everything in a dirty late-’90s gloom - hence my earlier allusion to Gotham City. They both belong to a subgenre of detective movies, which were themselves heavily influenced by noir classics that made the environment itself a sort of coconspirator for the serial killer to take advantage of and an additional antagonist for the heroes to overcome. New York feels hostile, so the serial killer’s elaborate kill scenes have the perfect canvas.
And the similarities go far deeper than the aesthetic. Like Se7en’s John Doe (Kevin Spacey), The Bone Collector’s titular villain is a methodical, highly intelligent killer with a flamboyant sense of theater, who leaves clues that almost beg for him to be uncovered. There’s the same sort of personal climax, albeit with a different vibe to Doe’s coup de grace, and the whole cat-and-mouse chase is the kind of irresistible magic thriller fans love. And crucially, it’s not just a cheap clone, offering a different dynamic and different story beats, and if you've been searching for a dark, brainy alternative to Se7en, it’s one to select on Prime this month.
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