Movie Review: DAMAGED

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 12th, 2024 / 01:03 AM

Rating: R
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Vincent Cassel, Gianni Capaldi, Laura Haddock, John Hannah, Kate Dickey, Brian McCardie
Writers: Koji Steven Sakai, Gianni Capaldi, Paul Aniello, story by Paul Aniello & Gianni Capaldi
Director: Terry McDonough
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: April 12, 2024

The notion of Samuel L. Jackson as a Chicago homicide detective in Edinburgh, Scotland is full of potential. DAMAGED doesn’t play with those possibilities in the way we might expect. Still, as a serial killer thriller, it’s decently intriguing until it becomes unglued in the third act.

When a young woman is followed home from her synagogue in Edinburgh and then brutally murdered and dismembered, the case falls to DCI Glen Boyd (Gianni Capaldi, who wrote the screenplay with Koji Steven Sakai and Paul Aniello, and co-wrote the story with Aniello).

Boyd discovers that the crime is similar to six serial killings that occurred five years ago in Chicago. He therefore invites the detective who was on that case, Dan Lawson (Jackson), to come to Edinburgh and assist.

We see from Lawson’s solving of a gang killing in flat seconds that he’s sharp. We also see that he is haunted by memories of a past love affair.

We soon learn that Boyd’s marriage to Marie (Laura Haddock) has been troubled since the death of their toddler son a year ago. Lawson has a drinking problem, although it doesn’t seem to impair his work much. DAMAGED is a title that refers to all three of these people.

When a second young woman, this one Catholic, is murdered and dismembered, Boyd and Lawson come to the conclusion that these may be religious hate crimes. Due to subtle differences, Lawson says they may be dealing with a copycat rather than the original perpetrator.

Lawson reaches out to his former partner of eighteen years, Walker Bravo (Vincent Cassel), who left the Chicago PD to move to London, where he now writes novels in his spare time and makes a living as a security consultant.

We’ve started to get into the weeds a bit already. In trying to establish how the killer may be messaging the police, there is a statement that menorahs (Hanukkah candle holders) are usually placed outside or on windowsills. This will come as news to most people who grew up in Jewish households.

Then there’s Walker Bravo’s name. If this were a different type of movie, it might work, but here it just seems bizarre. Then there’s the fact that Walker is French. Leaving aside his name, we understand a) why the filmmakers would want an actor of Cassel’s caliber if he’s available and b) why they don’t make Cassel try a Chicago accent. However, how did a French detective wind up as part of the Chicago police department for eighteen years? The lack of explanation makes us think the filmmakers are deliberately withholding this as to make some revelation later, but no, it’s just there.

And that’s before the third act and the climax. There’s one good, big development, but DAMAGED starts to unravel in ways that can’t be discussed without spoiling the whole shebang.

Director Terry McDonough does well with the gore and the chases, though he’s not able to finesse the increasing plot holes as the story proceeds.

For the first two acts, Jackson reminds us that he’s one of those performers who could probably make a reading of the phone book dramatically exciting. Cassel is smooth and urbane, and Capaldi is appropriately troubled as a law officer who’s never seen anything like this before. Kate Dickie is efficiency personified as Boyd’s supervising officer.

DAMAGED gives us some peak Jackson, and has a mystery that makes us curious about both motive and whodunit. And then it devolves. It’s ultimately not entirely satisfying, but if one is in the mood for a bloody thriller, it delivers on the basics.

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Latest Buzz

A Chicago homicide detective in Edinburgh

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: DAMAGED

Related

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Assignment X Poll

Newsletter subscription status