The Bone Collector

January 25, 2020 - Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie team up to catch a serial killer who takes his inspiration from the past. This R-rated drama from 1999 features Queen Latifah, Leland Orser, and Ed O'Neill. Jeffrey Deaver, who wrote the book, also helped write the screenplay.

Washington plays former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme. He's a renowned forensics expert. He's also a quadriplegic because a tunnel collapsed on him. Now, all he wants to do is die with some help from his doctor. But, before that can happen, the NYPD needs Rhyme's help one more time to catch a cabbie who is doing unspeakable things to his fares.

Angelina Jolie is a young cop named Amelia Donaghy. When a body turns up near some train tracks, Donaghy does all the right things to preserve the evidence. Soon, she becomes Rhyme's eyes and legs, and maybe more, as he guides her from crime scene to crime scene as they hunt a killer with a thing for the Victorian era.

Overall review: *** Holds up well for a technology-infused movie made some 20 years ago. But, having said that, there are some things that irked me. For example, the NYPD was somehow able to gather a boatload of 20th century computer equipment, drive it to Rhyme's apartment, and set it up – all within about a four-hour window. Then, later, when Rhyme and Donaghy figure out that the killer is posing his victims based on drawings from a book about murders in the Victorian era, Donaghy knows just what bookstore to go to find the book and determine where the killer might strike next. I mean, I get that Victorian books are a rarity. But, you'd think that NYC might have more than one bookstore worth checking out. Just sayin'.