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Title: Suspect Zero

Date Viewed: 8/29/04

Details:

Aaron Eckhart

Ben Kingsley

Carrie-Anne Moss

Director: E. Elias Merhige

Score: +

The Review: Vigilantes have a bad name. Taking the law into one's own hands is excoriated almost as vehemently as the criminal acts these individuals seek to stop. The usual answer is that of legal process, the inexorable but generally accurate prosecution of the law, with full evidentiary procedure; justice is slow but sure. But what if one had the vision to know, absolutely and exactly, where the cracks in the facade of civilization were located, and moreover had the courage to follow-up on this knowledge? (Would the wrath of an all-knowing and -seeing God be considered a failure of jurisprudence?) What would be the responsibility of such individuals?

Suspect Zero is a bit of a thriller and a bit of detective mystery, with a soupcon of what might be the paranormal and the (alleged) heritage of some odd DoD experiments. FBI agent Mackelway (Eckhart) has been reassigned to the middle of nowhere (eventually, the back-story makes it clear why) and soon is investigating what appears to be a robbery/homicide case on the Arizona - New Mexico border. Teamed up, not all that happily, with his ex-partner (Moss), they start getting mysterious faxes and clues from their suspect. Fairly well paced, a bit opaque at spots, but all wrinkles form a recognizable topography after a while.

A relatively small cast carries the movie well. Ben Kingsley is intense, focused and excellent is his (McMoneagle-like) role; he's developed a talent for playing dark roles, and this is both dark and conflicted. Whether Project Icarus ever existed inside the F.B.I. may be a matter of fiction, but some (Schnabel:1997; Marrs:2000; McMoneagle:2002; Buchanan:2003) would have us believe that similar projects were carried out within the Department of Defense or the CIA for some time. This movie is a curious look into the long-term consequences of such activities, and the effect on one's mind.

Postscript -- the individual and the "just do it" philosophy: Whether by dint of personal choice or the serendipity of summer movie releases, the last three films I've viewed (along with a few others) have shared, to a greater or lesser degree, a similar theme or sub-theme: an individual in possession of knowledge, skill, talents or the power of situation (just being there) which can affect significant change. Some may call this heroism. This may be stopping the predations of a hit-man (Collateral), deflecting the predations of an king (Hero), or tracking down a predatory serial killer (Suspect Zero).

Predator? Prey? In most ecosystems, one can find (or become) bigger fish. The common net effect is to build up the individual as hero, as catalyst, as courageous: often going, if not actually against the law, then only roughly in parallel with it, and procedure be damned. These are seldom portrayed as iconoclastic (that is left for lone genius), more usually as troubled or conflicted -- the kind of character that may be formulaic but easily identifiable and can be identified with. If this is the climax of summer fare, then there have been worse summers.

(29-Aug-04)

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