The Bone Collector is a decent film. A good story, if not terribly original in many ways, but with an excellent central performance from Denzel Washington and fine support from Angelina Jolie, not the best of actresses but not at all bad here.The action is well constructed and elements of suspense are well handled. Washington, as a quadraplegic forensics expert, does a pretty good job from his bed, never moving anything other than his head and a finger, while Jolie plays his amanuensis with some aplomb; Washington's nurse, Queen Latifah as Thelma, plays an excellent understated supporting role, though with a rather shocking end. If there's a criticism, it's the speed with which Jolie moves from being a hater of forensics to a lover of not only forensics but of Washington's expert.The film does rather drag on a bit a and might have been better if it was 10 minutes shorter, though that's a small issue. There's an absence of loud and intrusive background noise for much of the time - Hurrah ! - and the actors' voices are largely audible throughout, which can't be said for many modern films. It may be a bit predictable but then what modern films aren't ? They're all based on 'Cowboys and Indians' one way or another.Overall, it's a good 7.5 which isn't allowed, so 8 it has to be.

The Bone Collector isn't bad. It's not boring, insulting, stupid, or cynically made. But it's not good, either. It's competent. It's uninspired. Everything about it rises exactly to the level of mere "adequacy". In the wake of Silence of the Lambs, there was a barrage of cat-and-mouse serial killer movies and techno-thrillers. The Bone Collector does nothing to distinguish itself from the glut.Probably the only thing worth commenting on is the cast. I watched this movie after watching Gia and remembering what a brilliant and promising actress Angelina Jolie was at the dawn of her career. (I still like her. But she hasn't been acting much lately.) She does what she can with the role, believably haunted when she needs to be, intelligent and determined throughout. But there's just not much to the character. The same is true for Denzel Washington, unquestionably a great actor but constrained by an underwritten role. The two leads have good chemistry, but it felt more like mentor-mentee chemistry than romantic chemistry. Still, the movie wants us to think they need to fall in love. Michael Rooker, a solid character actor by anyone's measure, is given an entirely one-note character to play, a detective or something who is higher up on the food chain who blocks Lincoln Rhyme at every turn for no better reason than that every techno-thriller needs one of these guys. He decides he doesn't like Angie because early on in the film she stops a train to preserve a crime scene positioned on the subway tracks. No attempt is ever made by the screenwriters to justify his behavior. Luis Guzman is fun in an unspectacular "quirky tech guy" part.There's nothing in The Bone Collector you haven't seen before, but if you're writing a textbook on the cliches of late-90s filmmaking, a viewing of this one will provide all the material you need.

Whilst the bone collector serial killer is not the most thrilling or sophisticated of killers for this type of movie, Washington's character, takes on a fresh and different perspective to the investigation, which is most definitely the draw to this film.

If you were to watch this film without reading the book you'd problem thing it was ok, but as I am a Lincoln Rymes fan I have read this book before I had seen it. It's terrible. The only thing that's the same as the book is Lincoln Rymes being paraysled every where but his neck up and one finger. And Amelia Donaghy is a police officer that helps him. The killer is a completely different person. The murder victims are all wrong. The aid is a woman and not a man. No where does it mention why Amelia was transferring or the fact the two leads start to develop feelings for each other. It's just awful. If you've read the book don't bother watching it.