Jolie poor show

Much can go wrong in serial killer movies and Taking Lives wastes no time in making a mockery of an already debased genre.

A nasty business in Montreal prompts the local cops to call in FBI help. No sooner is Special Agent Illeana (Angelina Jolie) poured into her figure-hugging threads than she's communing spiritually with the killer, rolling around in the latest victim's grave and poring over photos of his bloody corpse while eating dinner.

The net tightens surprisingly quickly to the supposedly long-dead deranged son of a scary mother (Gena Rowlands). And guess what? His identical twin brother drowned as a child, and mom never forgave him. Enter Costa (Ethan Hawke), an artist (natch), who sees the killer at work, putting his own life at risk.

What happens next is so predictable you can't quite believe there isn't a spectacular twist lurking somewhere. Alas, all TV director DG Caruso can manage is an epilogue of equal parts nonsense and nastiness. Even the eye candy (Olivier Martinez makes up the tasty trio), smouldering as though lives really depended on them, can't sweeten this soggy stew.

Taking Lives
Cert: cert15