Detective thriller in which the mental prowess of the master sleuth is glaringly spotlighted by reducing him to a quadriplegic: an almost literally disembodied brain. The arrangement vaguely suggests a high-tech variation on the modus operandi of the venerable Nero Wolfe, a voluntary shut-in (you will recall) who left the legwork to his quick-fisted assistant, Archie Goodwin. Our present sleuth -- with the memorable name of Lincoln Rhyme -- has the use of one finger, a battery of computers at the tip of that finger, and an open line to the headset of his designated legman, or rather, legwoman, a uniformed patrol cop who has shown a natural gift for forensics. (The gushy emoting of Angelina Jolie looks all the broader alongside a necessarily restrained Denzel Washington.) The situation is not without potential, but the case before them is hooey: one of those hyperbolic serial-killer deals in which the fiendishly clever killer demonstrates a wide variety of flamboyant methods of murder, leaves tauntingly cryptic clues at the crime scene, and has (big surprise) a personal score to settle with the detective. Directed by Phillip Noyce. (1999) — Duncan Shepherd
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