The Watcher (eng)
FBI agent Joel Campbell has gone into hiding. Traumatized and beaten down after years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, he is trying to carve a new, less stressful, life for himself in Chicago. He has only been in Chicago for a few months when there is a rash of gruesome murders, all of which follow a sickeningly familiar pattern: They are undoubtedly the work of one man - David Allen Griffin. The cunning and tormenting Griffin prodded and eluded Campbell for years in Los Angeles. And now he has pursued his tracker to Chicago. For Griffin, the vicious, merciless killing of lonely young women has merely become a pretext for a sadistic game of cat and mouse game between himself and Campbell. Before each murder he sends the FBI agent a photograph of his intended victim and dares him to find her before he strikes again.
Starring: Keanu Reeves , James Spader , Marisa Tomei , Robert Cicchini and Chris Ellis

Reluctantly, Joe is again drawn into this devious serial killers' plans as he communicates his intentions directly to Joe by phone and pictures of his next victims.

The plot itself is viable though there always seems to be the feeling that this jigsaw is one piece short of a completed puzzle. It is terribly irritating that despite efforts on television and posters all over the city, the victims never are identified on time. It is quite unthinkable, that in the current information age people are still walking past headline news on television screens ten inches from themselves. Of course, if all things went as planned, David would never find his victims in his hands and 'The Watcher' will merely be 'The Watched'. But then there would be no story!

Spader, now showing visible signs of age and appeal to a more mature audience, made a very convincing 'fizzled out' detective. There is a distinct difference in him… maybe the voice, but definitely apparent in his looks, ever since 'Supernova' and now 'The Watcher', there is this immediate sense that this no longer is the young, nonchalant, brattish boy in 'Stargate' and 'Wolf'.

However, Keanu still is. Though a tad more chubby, cleverly disguised by a good length of full bodied straight hair, Reeves ever reminds one of his more youthful days in such movies as 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' and 'Bogus Journey'. But take note… Reeves has had very successful careers in fast paced action packed titles like Johnny Mnemonic, Speed and most recently The Matrix. So to add a little diversity, he's taken the challenge of a psychotic killer. Nope! Doesn't work I'm afraid. He just doesn't have that vile grin and ugly face that only a few actors, like Tommy Lee Jones as 'Two Face' in 'Batman Returns', can portray. Then again, I guess here's a lesson learned. Not ALL serial killers look ugly!

Marisa Tomei's character, Polly, did no justice for this award winning actress. Her role as Campbell's psychologist merely was an excuse to tie the link between the fair detective and handsome killer at the end as Griffin uses her, the petite damsel in distress, as bait.

For Hard-core Keanu fans, please be forewarned and do remember that Keanu IS the bad guy here… a psychotic killer of sorts. If your gut still says yes, then he won't be disappointing you. Otherwise keep away and avoid souring your cool, hip image of Keanu.

Compared to the other offerings of sick, psychotic killers released in the past few weeks: namely "What Lies Beneath" and "The Cell," this movie would be the mildest and the most 'ordinary'. But if that's your fancy then so be it, because when you boil things to a simmer… 'The Watcher' may not have the weird, expensive effects of 'The Cell' or the melancholy of 'What Lies Beneath', but it is the most 'watchable' of the three!