The Bone Collector (1999)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker, Ed O’Neill, Luis Guzmán, and Bobby Cannavale
Grade: C+

To start off this review, I’m going to hit you with a quote from the film, completely out of context:

“There’s laws against molesting the handicap you know”.

Summary

In New York City, forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme (Washington) checks out a crime scene in a tight space in some abandoned building. He looks at the dead body, and it’s him. He stares in confusion until some beam above crushes him. Obviously, this was a dream regarding the body being himself, but everything else was real. Lincoln is now a quadriplegic because of this incident four years ago, and he resides at home in a hospital bed with state-of-the-art medical equipment surrounding him, keeping him alive. Elsewhere in New York, a wealthy couple are taken hostage by a taxi driver following their flight.

Later, Lincoln talks with his nurse Thelma (Latifah) and medical technician Richard (Leland Orser). Dr. Barry (John Benjamin Hickey) comes to visit him, and they discuss Lincoln’s request for assisted suicide. Lately, Lincoln is having more and more seizures. Any one of them can put him in a vegetative state, something Lincoln never wants to get to. Barry tries to convince him otherwise, but Lincoln’s mind is made up. When Barry gets back on Sunday, Lincoln will make his “final transition”, as he calls it, to death.

Across town is Police Officer Amelia Donaghy (Jolie). Her relationship with her boyfriend (Cannavale) is falling apart because of her lack of commitment, but despite his insistence of trying to fix it by talking about their issues bright and early in the morning, she leaves for work. At work, she answers a call to go check out a dead body by some train tracks. The body is the husband of the rich couple from the beginning of the movie. We see his face and his severed hand, with a ring on one of the fingers, along with other evidence deliberately placed there. Donaghy stops an incoming train to investigate this official crime scene. She takes pictures of the whole thing too, after paying the kid that called it in to get her a disposable camera. Somewhere in the city, we see that the wife of the rich couple from earlier is still alive. She is bound and gagged and placed in a sewer by a masked man. Back at the crime scene, Donaghy gives evidence to Detective Paulie Sellitto (O’Neill) but is scolded by Detective Howard Cheney (Rooker) for stopping the train and causing a huge scene. Paulie goes to Lincoln’s place to tell him about the case and hopefully ask for help because certain details are not adding up. Lincoln is not really interested, but once Paulie starts talking about it, Lincoln has a seizure. Later on, he wakes to one of the monitors in front of him. The evidence is there, and he examines it.

Now, Lincoln is interested.

Being impressed by her amateur forensics skills, Lincoln sends for Donaghy. He tells her she has a natural instinct for the job, despite her just being a lowly police officer at the moment. Lincoln goes through the evidence with Donaghy and Paulie, with him coming to the conclusion that the crime scene is staged, and the wife is still alive. As we know, he’s right. Moving forward and being particularly invest in the case, he makes it clear he wants Donaghy on the case with them. She isn’t interested but is forced into the spot following Lincoln’s insistence and Paulie making it her official assignment. To start things up and deal with Lincoln’s physical limitations, they turn Lincoln’s home into a police department of sorts, with him coaching Donaghy along the way. He will be the brains, and she will be the one to go out into the field following his orders. Together, they make it their mission to find this killer on the loose, while dealing with Detective Cheney getting in their way at every waking moment.

My Thoughts:

The Bone Collector is hit-or-miss on a lot of things.

Cast? Hit.

Generic serial killer storyline? Miss.

Denzel Washington? Hit.

Quadriplegic Denzel Washington? Miss.

I know the character of Lincoln Rhyme from the book the film is based on is a quadriplegic, and don’t get me wrong, Denzel is definitely the highlight of the film. It’s incredible how much he is able to do, despite him lying there for the entire film. However, throughout the action, I couldn’t help but think how much better The Bone Collector would’ve been had Lincoln been able to walk around as a regular forensics expert. Then again if his legs did work, he probably would’ve solved the crime in twenty minutes. I know him being handicapped to this level is what makes the story interesting, but would I have rather had the same movie but with Denzel interacting with Angelina Jolie on foot at these crime scenes?

10000%.

Plus, it would’ve made for a lot more steamier possibilities.

You know what I’m talking about. The sexual tension between our two co-stars was insane, even though we know nothing can happen between them. During the course of the movie, Lincoln really starts to win over the uptight Amelia Donaghy, and it’s pretty funny to think about. Even without the use of 90% of his body, Denzel’s still got the sauce, and she can’t even deny it. As ridiculous as this sounds, it’s one of the major positives coming out of the movie, mostly because you’ll never see it anywhere else.

On top of his trademark charm, Denzel Washington puts together a very well-rounded performance showcasing two very different sides to our intriguing protagonist. Despite commanding so much respect, Lincoln is a broken man because of his condition. This is where Denzel impresses, showing us the depressing side of Lincoln and the situation he finds himself in. He’ll say some things in a soft-spoken voice, but you can tell he’s hurting and has had enough with his life. He hasn’t been able to move in four years, and he knows it may get worse because of these horrific seizures he’s been experiencing on a consistent basis. It makes you uncomfortable seeing him in that bed and how he reacts physically to certain things. You may have trouble seeing getting through these scenes if you consider yourself squeamish. In terms of acting though, Denzel is great at giving us glimpses of the old confident Lincoln, just as well as he is with the newly-broken Lincoln. Seeing him in moments of distress is tough but also particularly riveting. The seizure scenes are technically impressive as well but again, you may find yourself wincing at the sight, seeing our star struggle as much as he does. Washington does an amazing job really, when you consider how little he is allowed to do because of his character’s condition. Then again, this is what makes Lincoln Rhyme all the more interesting. He’s one of the best (possibly the best) forensics expert in the country/world, and we see this firsthand through his natural intelligence and quick thinking under pressure. His mind works faster than any detective on the force.

This is why he’s asked to help, despite his condition and his desire to die.

This case gives him a challenge. It gives him a purpose, reinvigorating him as a result. Plus, they have no one else to turn to. There’s no one better for this case, even though he can’t even go to the crime scene. That’s when you know how good he is. When it comes to investigating evidence, he’s just on a different level. It doesn’t matter if he’s confined to a bed, they need Lincoln Rhyme. He’s untouchable and loved by everyone. Cops routinely check on him and his medical bills are paid for as a result. The level of respect and pull this man gets makes him a legend in the policing world. This is why it’s refreshing to see Donaghy not give into his shit right off the bat.

Angelina Jolie does a notable job as the cop who tries to act tough but struggles mightily when tasked with dealing with bigger responsibilities because of Lincoln’s demand to have her on board for the case. Though it’s fun for the narrative, you do understand Donaghy’s plight. Based off of a couple of pictures, how can Lincoln really tell Donaghy has a future in forensics and needs to be the lead person on this case, despite many more qualified people being available for the job? We never know. It seems that these pictures are good enough, and Lincoln’s intellect tells him all he needs to know. Apparently, this is supposed to be good enough for us, so we just accept it, as does Donaghy who is routinely thrown for a loop. She’s stuck because she wants to move up in her job but also doesn’t want to jeopardize anything in her future. Additionally, she’s not even interested in forensics! That’s why one of the highlights of The Bone Collector was the unintentionally hilarious scene in which Lincoln insists Donaghy cut off the hands of a dead and handcuffed woman for evidence, knowing she’s never done such a thing before. It’s so amusing because of how unreasonable it is. Honestly, it’s one of the better scenes in the movie, perfectly describing the dilemma Donaghy has found herself in. It was also pretty funny to watch her relationship with her boyfriend in her introduction scene. It’s like they gender-swapped a regularly male-dominated action crime drama, with Bobby Cannavale playing the role of the girl basically, wanting to talk about his feelings and where the relationship is going.

Fine, they get some points for doing that because I did chuckle.

Though the supporting cast is solid behind our two attractive leads, they aren’t given enough to do to help the momentum of the film. This is why it doesn’t rank well against other, better crime dramas of its era. For instance, take a look at Michael Rooker’s Detective Cheney character. He plays the generic superior officer that has an issue with every fucking thing our protagonists do, spending more time trying to sabotage the mission rather than set his ego aside to help them find a FUCKING SERIAL KILLER on the loose. From my understanding, the only reason he is mad is because Lincoln refuses to report constantly to him to keep him in the loop. Are you that hurt about this that you would try to storm a quadriplegic’s house at one point? That’s kind of insane. I don’t know why this type of character exists in so many cop films, but it definitely didn’t need to be in one about a quadriplegic cop either. If these types of cop characters aren’t corrupt, what logistical sense does this character have to make the decisions he does? Is it all about ego? It can’t be!

If so, that’s just lazy writing.

In The Bone Collector specifically, Cheney only exists to throw you off from who the killer is supposed to be because he’s that much of an asshole. However, (SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS) since it’s not actually him, it makes his actions in the film make even less sense. Going along with this trend, one of the cops working on the case goes to visit Donaghy after she freaks out one day. For some reason, this weirdo tries to unlock her door. Then, he goes to the stairwell and tries to enter through her window! Who in their right mind would do something like that instead of just waiting another minute at the door to see if the person would answer it? Again, this is another MORONIC instance in which an outrageous action seemed to exist just to throw off the viewer to think this co-worker could potentially be the killer.

Shit like that, the generic-ness of the plot, the fact that they put all this trust into one person with zero training in forensics and that just being hard to buy, the reveal of the killer (His speech in the climax was super funny though), and the somewhat unsatisfactory third act, make The Bone Collector a bit of a disappointment. It’s definitely still entertaining, but I can’t tell if I was really invested in these characters, or I just enjoyed seeing the rarity of two well-matched leads like Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. They were not the problem. Unfortunately, I just had issues with almost everything else.

Fun Fact: Originally, producer Martin Bregman wanted Al Pacino to star, but he was busy filming The Insider. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery were suggested by the studio, but director Phillip Noyce chose Denzel Washington. Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman were considered for Angelina Jolie’s role as well.