Director: Afonso Poyart
Distributor: eOne
Duration: 98 minutes
Solace (DVD) – Movie Review
It has been roughly twenty-five years since Anthony Hopkins starred as the iconic Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, and the already well aged actor shows no real signs of slowing down. We were quite stoked to see him star in a rather promising story, namely Solace, as a consultant helping the police find a serial killer (sound familiar?) but we were also equally afraid, seeing the box of this DVD release already calls the movie as scary as The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and as ghastly as Se7en (1995), which is a rather bold statement to actually live up to.
Agent Joe Merriweather (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his partner Katherine Cowles (Abbie Cornish) are quite sure they have a serial killer on their hands, but they can’t seem to find any evidence as he simply does an impeccable job in erasing his footsteps. Joe realizes they will not be able to crack this case without the proper help, and thus he decides to pay an old friend a visit, who used to lend his aid to the police. When arriving at the rather secluded home of John Clancy (Anthony Hopkins), Katherine still isn’t convinced if they could actually use his help, as he is a psychic and she tends to believe in things that can be seen, not in ‘magic’. Lucky for her, it seems John isn’t that eager to help either, especially since his retirement after the passing of his daughter. That being said, eventually Katherine pushes him over the edge, making him help the police force once again and it becomes apparent that his help is sorely appreciated.
When a new victim turns up, John immediately senses certain things, such as the tainted water in the bathtub she is found dead in. All of the victims have one thing in common, at least almost all, namely that they either suffered from an incurable terminal disease, or that they were mentally ill in a way they would have destroyed themselves sooner or later. The murders themselves are clean and painlessly executed, making it clear that the killer has a sick vision of doing his victims ‘a favor’. Even with John’s extraordinary power, the killer stays one step ahead of them, making everything feel like a game is being played with both the police and John himself.
Seeing the movie is more about doing actual (psychic) detective work, there isn’t that much action going on, except for a sudden burst of action right in the middle (a dishonorable mention goes to the very cheap looking dummy that served as Anthony’s ‘stunt double during a crash). That being said, Solace offers plenty of exciting moments and it’s also very pleasant to see the three main characters evolve, be it by their unlikely partnership, or due to the fact that certain memories are coming back to haunt them. Nonetheless, the most interesting part is the fact that you can see the killer in John’s visions right off the bat, but still progress is hard to make, especially when it starts to feel like John’s ability is being countered by the murderer.
The way John’s visions are presented is a bit reminiscent of the lucid dreams in The Cell (2000), albeit in a ‘cleaned’ up sterile kind of way. It also allows the viewers to experience the other side of the medal, namely John’s, and even tends to surprise when this ability gets fleshed out even more later in the movie.
Acting performances are top notch, especially thanks to the fact that all of the main cast members have some kind of natural chemistry going on. Anthony Hopkins is still able to surprise viewers after this many years and we hope to see more similar roles being added to his portfolio in the future. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has the rugged appearance to play a detective that has his own set of issues, and supports it well with his acting capabilities. The murderer is played by Colin Farrell, and as expected he also pins down a qualitative and realistic job. Last but not least there’s Abbie Cornish’s character, which is played decently, but lacks a bit of luggage to make her truly interesting.
Solace’s DVD release does not come with any special features and truth be told it does not really need anything to thicken the plot. Seeing the movie has a proper ending and no real loose ends, there is no need to want anything else.
Conclusion
Even though the box of Solace’s DVD release already made a huge claim, it did follow through for the most part. While this movie is a psychic cat and mouse game, it is mostly driven by the main characters’ acting performances and some original twists along the way. This movie might not reach the same level as The Silence or the Lambs or Se7en, but it will certainly please the fans of those two movies.
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