 A top FBI profiler, Special Agent Illeana Scott (Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie) doesn't rely on traditional crime-solving techniques to unravel the mysteries of a murderous mind. Her intuitive, unconventional approach is often the only way to unlock the identities of the killers for the police to capture.
When Montreal detectives handling a local homicide investigation reluctantly ask for an outsider's help to get inside the head of a cunning serial killer, Agent Scott joins the case. With meticulous insight, she theorizes that the chameleon-like killer is "life-jacking" assuming the lives and identities of his victims.
As the pressure mounts to catch the elusive murderer, Agent Scott's unorthodox methods alienate her from a territorial police team that feels threatened by her uncanny abilities. Her seemingly cold demeanor belies an unparalleled passion for her work, and she's at her best when she's working alone. But when an unexpected attraction sparks a complicated romantic entanglement, the consummate specialist begins to doubt her finely honed instincts.
Alone in an unfamiliar city with no one she can trust, Agent Scott suddenly finds herself on a twisted and terrifying journey, surrounded by suspects in a case that has become chillingly personal.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Mark Canton Production: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke in Taking Lives, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Olivier Martinez, Tcheky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Gena Rowlands. Directed by D.J. Caruso from a screen story and screenplay by Jon Bokenkamp, based on the novel by Michael Pye, the film is produced by Mark Canton and Bernie Goldmann. Bruce Berman, Dana Goldberg and David Heyman are the executive producers; and Alan C. Blomquist, co-producer. Tom Southwell is the production designer; Amir Mokri, director of photography; and Anne V. Coates, A.C.E., editor. Music by Philip Glass.
"I'm intrigued with the notion of identity, who we are and who we think we are," says director D.J. Caruso, citing one of the principle themes in Taking Lives, a psychological thriller that pits the expertise of an FBI profiler against the equally expert but twisted mentality of a serial killer.
This is a killer who not only takes the lives of his victims but bizarrely assumes their identities, using their credit cards and living in their homes for weeks or months before moving on to the next target. "He?s life-jacking," says Caruso, offering a term he coined while preparing for the project. "Not only does this guy, in his mind, become you, but he imagines he's living your life better than you would potentially live it, and that's part of his enjoyment."
From the story's opening moments, when a body is discovered near a Montreal construction site, it's clear that this is not a standard murder case. Something about the vicious and ritualistic nature of the crime indicates to local police director Hugo Leclair that he may be dealing with a serial killer, and that prompts him to call on Special Agent Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler, for help. It's not that he doesn't trust his own detectives to solve the case; it's just that tracking such monsters is Agent Scott's specialty. And if her methods seem a bit peculiar to his staff, so what? What better way to catch an unconventional criminal?
While Taking Lives delivers all the visceral impact audiences expect from a first-class thriller, it also explores a number of deeper and often surprising elements of personality and motive, leading Caruso to muse that "it's not so much a who-dunnit as a why-dunnit. The way the case must be solved is by figuring out the reasons for the killer's behavior, finding his point of view, and from that, ultimately, discovering who he is."
"We live in dangerous times and certainly this movie operates on that level, stirs that sense of prickly terror," says producer Mark Canton, from a perspective spanning more than 20 years as a senior studio executive, filmmaker and fan. "But it also touches on ideas about childhood, alienation and rejection, themes that develop in a person's life at a very early age and how childhood fantasies sometimes manifest themselves in powerful and destructive ways. As a parent, I find that particularly fascinating. It's an intelligent story, a smart person's thriller."
"You're never quite sure where the story or the characters are going," adds producer Bernie Goldmann, like his colleagues a longtime fan of the artfully constructed thriller. "You're not sure what their back-stories are or their motivations and why they choose to tell people certain things. It's a lot like life."
Release Date: (wide).
MPAA Rating:
Running Time: 100 minutes
Box Office: $32,682,342 (US total)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
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 Taking Lives
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