September 10, 2000 -- "The Watcher" is a very predictable thriller about a serial killer who doesn't seem very threatening. In fact, the only unpredictable thing about the movie is that it manages to avoid one single cliché. Unfortunately, I can't say which cliché that is without spoiling the end of the movie.

The movie is about the pursuit of a man, Griffin (played by Keanu Reeves of "The Matrix" who methodically pursues pretty young women and then brutally strangles them with piano wire (now that's entertainment!). Thankfully, the film does not show us all the gory details of the crimes. FBI agent Campbell (played by James Spader of "Supernova") got burned out on the case, literally and figuratively. He gave up and withdrew from the world. Griffin, however, starts sending Campbell pictures of victims prior to killing them, forcing him back onto the case.

Campbell, who is hooked on prescription medication, is assisted by testosterone-laden local cop Det. Hollis (Chris Ellis of "October Sky"). In one hilarious scene Hollis engages in a high-speed chase, then launches himself Kamikaze-like at the bad guy, all while carrying on a conversation on a cell phone! It is a very good performance by Ellis, who really puts the pedal to the metal.

Spader, an actor who can carry a movie by himself, as he proved in "Stargate," does a fine job as a man just barely hanging on, haunted by memories of a terrible failure in his past. Although his character is not well drawn, Spader does the most with what he has. Reeves however, is not convincing as a serial killer. He seems more like a serial annoyance.

The plot is very implausible. In one scene, Campbell finally catches up with Griffin, only to meekly hand over his gun to Griffin and let the killer control the situation. I keep thinking what Dirty Harry would have done in the same situation: shoot the killer in the knee and then torture him until he revealed where the intended murder victim was. The reason this very improbable situation takes place may be part of the all-powerful serial killer mystique in Hollywood films. It is almost as if the killer is an emblem representing the film's director. He plans, he watches, he executes. The murders involve an elaborate ritual which involves staging and preparation, like filming a scene. Above all, the killer always controls the situation and manipulates everyone else, just like a director, or a writer. Every one in the film dances to the tune of the killer.

I can't help but think of the story of an American woman who attended a film shown in India. In the film a group of men gang rape a woman, to the cheers of the mostly-male audience in the theater. After a trial, the rapists are wrongly acquited, again to the cheers of the men. The rapists again rape their accuser, again to cheers. True, it is extremely politically incorrect, and we'd all like to feel we're a damned site more fair, but how much better are we, really, when we're getting our kicks from seeing young women murdered for sport? There is always a sexual component to these kinds of killings as well.

The movie would not have seemed so morally bankrupt if it had made the slightest attempt to illuminate the twisted mind of the killer. It did not. It only showed him as being handsome, charming, intelligent and deadly. If we could have seen just how ugly his mind was it might have offset the phony attractiveness of this killer. A movie that does this a little bit is "Felicia's Journey." "The Watcher," unfortunately, doesn't have that kind of depth to it. This film rates a C-.

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