"Solace" is something of a cross between "Se7en" and "The Silence of the Lambs" but it's sufficiently original, (and very well made), to stand on its own yet for some reason the critics didn't take to it and it was a flop. As with "Silence..." once again Anthony Hopkins, (here he's a psychic), teams up with a female cop, (Abbie Cornish), to catch a serial killer.
It's all very flashy but it's also quite clever, (if totally daft), and is actually exciting. Best of all it has two outstanding performances. Watching Hopkins is always a pleasure and he's superb here, particularly considering how little 'acting' he has to do. He can give the simplest line reading a depth that isn't there on paper. This might not have been anything more than a money job for Hopkins but boy, is he good. As the serial killer, Collin Farrell doesn't come into the movie until quite late but he's excellent and, like Hopkins, gives the part a lot more than perhaps it deserves. On the other hand, Robert Downey lookalike Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Cornish's partner is a weak link but he's the only one in a fine serial killer flic that has been massively underrated.
It's all very flashy but it's also quite clever, (if totally daft), and is actually exciting. Best of all it has two outstanding performances. Watching Hopkins is always a pleasure and he's superb here, particularly considering how little 'acting' he has to do. He can give the simplest line reading a depth that isn't there on paper. This might not have been anything more than a money job for Hopkins but boy, is he good. As the serial killer, Collin Farrell doesn't come into the movie until quite late but he's excellent and, like Hopkins, gives the part a lot more than perhaps it deserves. On the other hand, Robert Downey lookalike Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Cornish's partner is a weak link but he's the only one in a fine serial killer flic that has been massively underrated.