Suspect Zero is an interesting piece, particularly to me. Although it's almost universally looked at as a failure, a shell of what it could have been, I'm crazy about it the way it is and think they did a fantastic job. It has a bit of a muddy past: Zak Penn wrote the script back in the 90's, after which it gained much interest from the likes of Tom Cruise, Ben Affleck and others. It took til 2004 to finally get the film made, with a version that many frown upon and frankly consider a shitty movie. Balls to them. It's a grim, eerie serial killer chiller with an atmosphere thick enough to slice with a razor, and one extremely unsettling lead performance from a haggard, haunted Ben Kingsley. He plays Benjamin O Ryan, an ex FBI agent. Or is he? He's efficiently hunting down and murdering random people (or are they?), leaving vicious visual calling cards and deliberately leaving victims lying on state lines to ensure the Bureau's involvement. In particular he takes a shine to raw boned Agent Mackleway (Aaron Eckhart), leaving specific clues for him. O Ryan employs a metaphysical method of finding his victims, using an old psychic technique from a scrapped program the feds once explored. This gives the filmmakers a reason to throw sketchy, disconcerting images, sounds and editing our way, providing a visually and aurally chafing experience. The film's director, E. Elias Merhige, is infamous for making the surreal, experimental shocker 'Begotten', and he brings the same stark, discomforting qualities to the proceedings here. I'm reminded of another experimental director who brought a near elemental aesthetic to an otherwise grounded serial killer flick: Tarsem Singh with his brilliant psychological fantasy 'The Cell'. Suspect Zero is the grimy, fragmentary cousin to The Cell's grandiose beauty. There's also traces of Sev7n, Silence Of The Lambs, Millennium and more, yet the film finds its own groove and never sinks into derivative gestures. Composer Clint Mansell ditches his trademark celestial tones for something truly unique, a dread soaked nightmarish lullaby that gives the film an otherworldly tone to linger in dreams. If you can forgive a few instances of murky plotting and one or two cheap plot turns, you'll hopefully enjoy this as much as me. It really deserves better attention and praise than its got so far.

Review: I did find this movie to be quite slow and a bit sketchy, but when it all comes together at the end, it's very well made. It's quite a deep psychological thriller, like Seven, but not as good. It would have been a much better movie if the director would have got on with the nitty gritty of the movie and he should have focused on the kidnapping more than the investigators getting confused. Anyway, the acting was quite believable and well performed by the cast, but the storyline needed some tweaking. Watchable!Round-Up: Audiences were obviously not impressed with this film, judging by the money that it made, but you can't fault Ben Kingsley's amazing performance as a psychopath. Aaron Eckhart seemed a bit all over the place and Carrie Ann Moss seemed a bit wasted, but that was due to the writing and not there personal acting skills. The film did remind me a lot of A light hearted Seven, which was why the director had to push it in another direction near the end. Anyway, it's a watchable thriller with many twists and turns.Budget: $27million Worldwide Gross: $11.5million I recommend this movie to people who are into there psychological thrillers about a serial killer being hunted by the cops. 4/10

I enjoyed this script, the acting, everything about this film was excellent except sadly the ever so important sound track. Not that the music was horrible, it was just a very, very poor match to the film. I almost cringed half the time due to it not matching the tempo of the film. Plot, dialog, performances, all of it was stellar. I am very finicky with story-lines, I must have a good plot to follow or I am bored to death and this movie had it. With the right music this film would have easily hit a rating of 7 or 8 for me. Sadly the way it is now, I can only rate it a 5.5. All in all, it is still worth the watch and if you can realize from the start that it is the music setting the wrong tempo, then you may be able to overlook it and enjoy the film perhaps envisioning it how it could have been with the right sound.

Directed by E. Elias Merhige, Suspect Zero follows the disgraced FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway, who was transferred to a desolate area in Albuquerque, New Mexico as punishment for botching a procedure which ultimately led to the release of one of the most notorious criminals on the FBI's list.It features Aaron Eckhart,Ben Kingsley and Carrie-Anne Moss together with Kevin Chamberlin and Harry J. Lennix.Mackelway is given an opportunity to redeem himself, however, when he is called in to investigate the strange murder of a traveling salesman. Mysteriously, the mark of a circle with a line through it is the only clue that the killer left behind. Before long, the prime suspect is identified as former agent Benjamin O'Ryan, who is seemingly obsessed with hunting down serial killers and murdering them rather than turning them in to the proper authorities. Though Mackelway believes he knows the area where O'Ryan is living, he has no idea what he looks like a problem that the rogue agent exploits with great success. Despite his brilliance, Mackelway finds himself caught in a psychological labyrinth of sorts, and is faced with an even greater quandary after learning that O'Ryan is looking for none other than Suspect Zero, a murderer of hundreds and the FBI's most wanted man.The movie is that rare case of a dull idea redeemed by sharp talent.But other than that,there is not much to like in this preposterous thriller.Probably one could say that this is a visually jarring, psychologically daring trip that explores terror in a fresh, if crazy, manner.But nevertheless,only the cast particularly Ben Kingsley saves this film from a complete disaster.