It's All In The Imagination (Mr. Brooks (DVD))

Member Name: utero

Product:	Mr. Brooks (DVD)
Date:	23/06/08 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent Performances, Entertaining, Perverse

Disadvantages: Too many subplots

By day he's a mild mannered company owner, but by night he's a cold and calculated serial killer. That's the premise for Mr Brooks, an adult thriller that is a bit like Donnie Darko without the confusing time travel, a manical rabbit and headscratching.

Kevin Costner plays the title character, a successful businessman whose respected in the community for his work, he has a thriving business, a comfortable home life and everything is peachy. Unfortunately he has an itch to kill, spurred on by his partner in crime Marshall (William Hurt), Marshall however is a figment of Mr Brook's imagination.

On one of his kills, Brooks get's photographed caught in the act by a neighbour. Instead of being handed to the police, Mr Brooks is approached by Mr Smith who uses the photographs to coerce Mr Brooks into taking him along and getting him versed in his serial killer skills. What follows is a game of cat and mouse as a female cop (Demi Moore) tracks the killer while contending with a pricey divorce.

Yes Mr Brooks is a bit of a mish mash when all is said and done, there's about three different plots going on, all trying to vy for one resolution. By rules, this shouldn't work and on some levels it's completely stupid but overall it's actually quite entertaining.

Costner plays it straight in the title role and is quite good; thankfully he doesn't play it over the top that could have made this incredibly bizarre. The scenes between him and William Hurt are probably the films highlights as Hurt seems to be enjoying himself. Demi Moore takes up the female cop role, she's alright but her divorce subplot seems completely out of place. Dane Cook plays Mr Smith and in my opinion he was a bit over the top.

Overall I'd say this film is worth a rental, it works as entertainment but has it took things a little darker and thrown out some of the worthless subplots then it could have been something special.

Then again coming from the director of Christian Slater 90's clag Kuffs and the writers of cheesy kids flicks, this should be seen as better than expected.

- The DVD -

Presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, this is a nice little transfer giving sharp detail throughout and very little sign of the hazing that can plague transfers when films are shot in dark tones.

Sound wise the 5.1 soundtrack is solid, most of this is talky so there isn't room for a lot of rear speaker action. Although there is a meaty shootout at one point.

- Extras -

Bonus material consists of mainly a bunch of featurettes totalling just under 30-minutes, however they mainly cover the same ground with cast and crew talking about the film, characters and the story. It's just above EPK fluff.

The deleted scenes section actually has some interesting stuff. There's another subplot with Moore's character getting involved with a male escort, the alternate opening sequence also gives more substance to Mr Brook's previous victims.

An audio commentary with writer and director also can be heard, it's a mildly informative track.

Finally there's a theatrical trailer.

- Finally -

Mr Brooks is a case of two many cooks at times, there's a whole bunch of plotlines which should have been trimmed to concentrate on the interesting story of Brooks and his alter ego Marshall. However it's entertaining and doesn't really cause you to roll your eyes so give it a look.

Summary: Mr Brooks is better than expected but could have been great