In the bonus track of the DVD of "Hangman," actor Al Pacino lauded the script for the importance of showing concern for the victims of crime. Unfortunately, that theme never came across in a film that was a routine, predictable thriller. The focus was never on the victims, as much as the action in tracking down a serial killer.
Pacino suggested that his character, retired Detective Archer, had not shown enough sensitivity to a young boy who had witnessed the death of his father by hanging. Now in retirement, Archer loves to work on crossword puzzles in Latin. By the end of the film, the Latin word EVICTIONEM (eviction) takes on special meaning to Archer, when he recalls (too late to do any good) that the little boy and his father were in the process of being evicted from their apartment prior to the father's suicide.
In terms of the script, it was too difficult for the audience to piece together the details of Archer's Latin crossword puzzles and how the word EVICTIONEM might have figured in the game of hangman played by a sophisticated serial killer. As the film's action unfolds, there is no consideration given to the serial killer as a victim. Rather, the main victim was Archer's grieving partner, Detective Ruiney, whose wife was killed by the serial killer. A third major character is an eager investigative reporter who tags along with the detectives. Her presence only slows down the pacing of the action film to a laborious crawl.
In film style, the moody, dark interiors were too repetitive and boring. The fictional town of "Monroe" was too much like New York. Pacino's dialect for his Detective Archer was a cross between a Southern drawl and a heavy New York nasality. In the bonus track, Pacino felt that the film would "keep an audience riveted." But nothing ever worked in this flat and non-engaging thriller that failed to convey the mindset of a Bundy, Gacy, or Ramirez.
Pacino suggested that his character, retired Detective Archer, had not shown enough sensitivity to a young boy who had witnessed the death of his father by hanging. Now in retirement, Archer loves to work on crossword puzzles in Latin. By the end of the film, the Latin word EVICTIONEM (eviction) takes on special meaning to Archer, when he recalls (too late to do any good) that the little boy and his father were in the process of being evicted from their apartment prior to the father's suicide.
In terms of the script, it was too difficult for the audience to piece together the details of Archer's Latin crossword puzzles and how the word EVICTIONEM might have figured in the game of hangman played by a sophisticated serial killer. As the film's action unfolds, there is no consideration given to the serial killer as a victim. Rather, the main victim was Archer's grieving partner, Detective Ruiney, whose wife was killed by the serial killer. A third major character is an eager investigative reporter who tags along with the detectives. Her presence only slows down the pacing of the action film to a laborious crawl.
In film style, the moody, dark interiors were too repetitive and boring. The fictional town of "Monroe" was too much like New York. Pacino's dialect for his Detective Archer was a cross between a Southern drawl and a heavy New York nasality. In the bonus track, Pacino felt that the film would "keep an audience riveted." But nothing ever worked in this flat and non-engaging thriller that failed to convey the mindset of a Bundy, Gacy, or Ramirez.