Detective Will Ruiney (Karl Urban) enlists the help of his recently retired colleague Ray Archer (Al Pacino) when a serial killer who uses the children's game Hangman as a basis for his killings. Ruiney and Archer find themselves in a race-against-time battle of wits with the killer and must try to track him down before he spells out the full word (with a letter being carved into the bodies of each of his victims). It seems that Archer and Ruiney are also part of the game and may be at risk when they learn that the killer has carved their badge numbers at the location of one of the murders...
Hangman follows the standard police-procedural narrative (and actually has a bit of a feel of Seven about it), so I don't believe the problem is necessarily with the material, but more with the delivery...
Director Johnny Martin is perhaps to blame for a lot of the film's failings; there's just no spice, zip or zing to anything here making the film feel a little flat. Given the nature of the narrative (having to try to get one step ahead of the killer and reach the victims by a certain deadline) the film should have had some urgency about it, but once you've seen 1 or 2 of the killings and see how everything plays out the same when the cops arrive the film starts to lose its edge and lacks suspense and tension.
The acting, like the directing, is not much to write home about. Pacino is clearly the big draw here, but he underplays a lot here and is far too sedate (but I blame the director for this). Karl Urban and Brittany Snow are so-so in support with nobody else really making the grade.
In summary then there's nothing wrong with the script and concept, but the lethargic direction and lack of excitement is what really hurts the film. Like I say the script has the legs to make it watchable, but I think a different director may have improved the overall quality of the film.
Hangman follows the standard police-procedural narrative (and actually has a bit of a feel of Seven about it), so I don't believe the problem is necessarily with the material, but more with the delivery...
Director Johnny Martin is perhaps to blame for a lot of the film's failings; there's just no spice, zip or zing to anything here making the film feel a little flat. Given the nature of the narrative (having to try to get one step ahead of the killer and reach the victims by a certain deadline) the film should have had some urgency about it, but once you've seen 1 or 2 of the killings and see how everything plays out the same when the cops arrive the film starts to lose its edge and lacks suspense and tension.
The acting, like the directing, is not much to write home about. Pacino is clearly the big draw here, but he underplays a lot here and is far too sedate (but I blame the director for this). Karl Urban and Brittany Snow are so-so in support with nobody else really making the grade.
In summary then there's nothing wrong with the script and concept, but the lethargic direction and lack of excitement is what really hurts the film. Like I say the script has the legs to make it watchable, but I think a different director may have improved the overall quality of the film.