Movie Analysis: Mr. Brooks 6/10

(Howdy again, ladies and gentleman. It has been a long time since I have written and I sincerely apologize from the deepest recesses of my kidney. With the war within Harkins occupying most of my time this is the first time I have been able to sit down and write. Because I received a decent amount of comments and praise for my Road to Perdition analysis I decided to write one more before I move on to other things, and I assure you, dear readers, that my mind is exploding with new ideas that I just have to get on paper. Technically computer but that doesn’t sound as cool.)

*SPOILERS APLENTY!!!!!!!!!* Seriously. I am going to hit this entire movie with all I’ve got. So if you plan on seeing this movie do not read this article just yet. I repeat: Do NOT read this unless you are 100% sure you have seen this before or you never will in your life time.

Mr. Brooks is the story of businessman and family man Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) and his struggle with an addiction, previously brought under control through AA meetings, that threatens to return and take back control of his life. This is no drug addiction, however. Brooks is the Thumbprint Killer, a serial killer in Portland who murders couples during intercourse and rearranges their bodies into romantic positions. To the detectives of Portland’s dismay, Brooks has yet to leave a single shred of evidence due to his flawless methods and almost supernatural attentiveness to details. Unfortunately, Marshall (William Hurt), Brooks’s alter-ego and metaphorical drug dealer, returns after laying dormant for two years and convinces Brooks to kill again. Targeting a young dancing couple, Brooks proceeds to kill them during sex, but for the first time he makes a mistake. After cleaning up and preparing to rearrange the bodies, he notices the blinds looking into the room were left open allowing an entire apartment building across the street to potentially view the killings. A little flustered with this discovery, Brooks shuts the blinds, finishes his business, and storms out of the house back home where he burns his clothes and a series of pictures he took of the scene he apparently “gets off” on as Marshall implies. The next day Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), an expert detective known for being a “hard ass” and who previously followed the Thumbprint Killer until he disappeared, arrives on the scene of the murders and immediately identifies them as that of the Thumbprint Killer. Continuing on, Atwood meets with her soon-to-be ex-husband and each of their lawyers for an attempt at a settlement. At this point it’s revealed that Atwood is an heiress for a large fortune and therefore worth a lot of money that her ex is trying to milk from her. After a nice screw you with a good ole threat attached to it, the ex and his lawyer leave with a promise to see them in court. A quick sidenote: it is also revealed around this time that another serial killer has escaped from jail and threatens to hunt her down for revenge. The movie focuses back on Brooks at work where his daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker), supposedly at Stanford, arrives for mysterious reasons. After questioning she finally admits to a pregnancy but Brooks and Marshall feel she is hiding something more. Before he can continue questioning however, in comes a man who gives himself the name Mr. Smith (Dane Cook). Smith brings along a neat looking envelope containing pictures of the murders from his third story apartment building and he proceeds to blackmail Brooks into taking him on the next murder. And so an unplanned partnership forms while the hunt for the Thumbprint Killer begins once more.

Before I dive into the depths of Mr. Brooks and the psychology behind it I need to comment on two things outside of the movie. The first being the movie poster. That movie poster is one the most beautifully done that I personally have ever seen. Not only does it capture the mood of the movie so well but the way in which they portray Marshall is just genius. They could have easily just thrown a picture of Costner in a suit and bow tie and called it a day, but the addition of the red layer containing Marshall underneath peeking out menacingly as if it is almost time to return from a long time in hiding almost acts as a small prequel to the movie. Marshall HAS been away for a while and right as the movie begins we see Brooks struggling with some inner demon, almost like he is fighting it. Trying his best to keep it at bay. Of course this is to no avail. Marshall breaks free and consumes Brooks mind, tempting him to kill again until he finally does setting off the events of the movie. The second thing I want to mention is the tagline “Desire can be dark. Truth can be elusive. Knowledge can be deadly.” (not on poster). Like the poster, this tagline also captures the mood of the film while also foreshadowing the struggles of each of the main characters: Brooks, Atwood, and Smith. As you watch the movie each of these becomes relevant as we learn that Brooks struggles with a desire to kill people in cold blood, Atwood struggles to find the truth about the Thumbprint Killer, and Smith struggles desperately to blackmail the deadly Mr. Brooks with his knowledge of the murders. The movie addresses each of these struggles throughout and as the movie reaches an end they to find closure. All this before I even had a chance to put the movie in the DVD player. Very well done.

Now on to the movie. Starting with characterization. There were four main characters worth noting in Mr. Brooks and one minor character that acts as a symbol which I will also go over:

Earl Brooks- The focus of this movie and the man whose mind is more twisted than a million knots yet so organized and under control. Even out of his element (for example, when he discovers he left the curtains open) Brooks remains calm, collected, and simply adjusts his plans accordingly. A lot of this calm demeanor comes from his almost mythological methods of deduction and attention to detail, characteristics reminiscent of fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes and therefore make Mr. Brooks seem a little unreal. But that’s the point. Brooks has two faces: that of a family man with a successful job and that of a man addicted to murder. To any average family man a life of murder is unreal, immoral, and just flat-out impossible to commit without extremely good reason. Another contributor to this calm demeanor is the alter-ego, Marshall, that Brooks thought up. Through discussions with Marshall, he can receive a second opinion or in many cases a figure unaffected by outside circumstances that can act as the voice of reason or give insight on certain details Brooks may have missed. Now technically Brooks and Marshall are one and the same, but this movie makes a very fine point that they are separate characters and without Marshall, Brooks lacks any sort of character development. Now because Brooks lives two very different lives, there are two very different descriptions. The first is a man who loves his family and works hard to make sure they have the best. Just like any good father, he makes sure his daughter is well-educated and feels disappointment when she leaves school and refuses to make something of herself. After he discovers the possibility of her secret he calls upon his other self to make sure she is unharmed. The second Brooks is everything Sherlock Holmes is except he kills people. Emotionless, calculating, utilizes a godlike attention to details and an impeccable method for deduction he uses on Smith and his daughter to figure out what they’re up to. Those last two fascinate me the most and if you watch the movie you will see why. The lengths at which he plans and operates is just amazing. Nothing truly changes about this character at all. He loses control and then it is implied that he gains it back again but it is not really emphasized in any way.

Marshall- Brooks alter-ego and the devil in this tale of temptation. Nothing really happens in terms of characterization with him, but what he symbolizes defines the theme of this movie. Director/writer Bruce Evans geniusly personifies every man’s temptation through Marshall. In this case desire is, indeed, very dark and through cinematography and key lighting they accurately portray him as the metaphorical bad guy by showing him only in darkness and in shadows. Continuing with the devil symbolism, Marshall is always behind Brooks, speaking over his shoulder directly into his ear much like we have seen in cartoons all our lives. Marshall is the corruption in Brooks mind, awakened after two years and thirsty for more blood.  Something I personally found interesting was the fact that Marshall was generally the same size, age, and build as Brooks which kind of makes them equal in terms of a power struggle.

Mr. Smith- The incompetent blackmailer of the story who lusts to kill much like Brooks does but without the psychological control. Smith is young, erratic, impulsive and way out of his league. Basically everything one should not be when about to kill someone. He simply is not ready to act on his words and when he finally gets there he urinates, leaving all sorts of DNA, and even underestimates Mr. Brooks when he attempts to kill him, getting himself killed. A boy wanting to play a man’s game before realizing that it most definitely is not a game. With the photos he took of the murders, Smith starts out in control but by the end of it he is nothing but a pawn for Brooks to do as he pleases.

Detective Tracy Atwood- The tough as-nails cop with a long list of issues to sort out. If it’s not her husband trying to milk every last penny out her then it’s the reemergence of the one criminal that got away. Everything seems to go wrong for Atwood and her character compliments that. She takes crap from no one and takes any risk she deems necessary to fulfill her goals. Sometimes she may fall over the top and threaten to kill her husband in front of three lawyers, but it’s whatever. The great thing about Atwood is how equally matched she is with Brooks, something every other character has failed to accomplish. Her determination to catch the Thumbprint Killer rivals Brooks flawless methods and it is that determination that catches his eye and earns her his respect. Enough so for him to kill both her ex and his lawyer as well as lead Atwood to the man trying to kill her. He even goes as far as to call her after they believed Smith to be the serial killer and reveal that he was still at large. But only to her. Atwood is a strong character and throughout everything, including being thrown out of a moving van, she remains strong. A truly admirable quality.

Jane Brooks- The daughter with a curse. When Jane returns from Stanford, both Marshall and Brooks realize she is hiding something big. After police officers arrive asking questions about a murder at the school, they both infer that she inherited Brooks addiction. I only mention this character for that very reason. Jane symbolizes inheritance while at the same time proposing the question of whether or not one can inherit psychological issues. This presents itself through foreshadow when Jane takes the glasses of Brooks and places them on her own face when talking about inheriting the family business. This same action occurs once more in Brooks nightmare after stabbing him in the throat. A truly disturbing scene to portray a truly disturbing thought.

The themes of this movie are pretty basic. Desire can be dark and one requires control in order to live with the temptation. In the end Brooks gains back control and focuses on more important things like family and saving his daughter from the life he led. Truth can be elusive but with determination and strength one will find closure. Knowledge can be deadly in the wrong hands and without the wisdom to handle it. Smith lacked that wisdom and for that reason he died without any sort of honor. Very self explanatory themes not worth too much discussion.

The usage of tone, motifs, and foreshadow, on the other hand, deserve a word or two. Like I have mentioned before, Evans utilizes lighting very well in this movie to capture a dark, foreboding tone. Brooks glasses act as a nice motif for hiding the man underneath the man. Whenever he moves to take them off Marshall appears and the killer inside him takes over. This goes for Jane as well. When she puts them on in the nightmare it implies she too hides a killer somewhere deep down. As I have mentioned before, foreshadowing is prevalent throughout the movie and even on the poster and within the tagline. This gives the movie suspense and ultimately moves the movie along.

Mr. Brooks is a very well done movie. Kevin Costner delivers one of his best performances as does William Hurt, performances outside of their usual comfort zone. Dane Cook also played a part outside of his usual goofy, comedian self and while I believe he did a decent job, I feel he was still new to acting at this point and so failed to stand next to the likes of Costner and Hurt. Demi Moore just felt like the same old Demi Moore but she played it perfectly. Beyond Cook’s performance I only have two more gripes. The first: there were way too many plot twists for the casual viewer and this could have potentially turned off many people who would explain a poor reaction in the box office and with critics. The second: it did not feel finished. Knowing this was supposed to be a trilogy I can totally understand it, but I wanted more and felt I just didn’t get it. For example, we never learn what really happened with Jane and probably never will. A real shame. All in all, this was a great thriller and I recommend it to anyone who liked Dexter or any sort of psychological movie.