If nothing else, the film has Ben Kingsley in Big Bad Ben Kingsley mode, and when Ben Kingsley's bein' bad, he's the motherfucking boss. His performance here builds nicely on the darkness of Sexy Beast—he is absolutely mesmerizing, eradicating the notion that what he'll be remembered for is Gandhi (though much lauded, his acting in that one seems like high-school drama compared with the depth he gets to nowadays). The story employs a novel variation on the ol' serial-killer thing by making Big Bad Ben a serial killer who targets serial killers, using a mystical "remote viewing" technique taught to him by a covert branch of the FBI. Kingsley can see killers via an induced trance state, and this ability has left his mental state fractured, leaving him to obsessively pursue "Suspect Zero," sort of the Moby-Dick of serial killers, who can't be caught because he does not fit the usual profile of repetition and escalation. Aaron Eckhart holds his own as the FBI agent charged with taking down Kingsley, who the FBI assumes is the actual Suspect Zero. Carrie-Anne Moss is good as Eckhart's onetime paramour and current FBI partner, although she's not given much to do. The film falls into a few too many of the clichéd pitfalls you'd expect from this genre—Eckhart's backstory is communicated through newspaper clippings, etc—but the suspense remains high, and Kingsley keeps things interesting throughout. I wish Suspect Zero had been ingenious and mind-blowing, but unfortunately it relies too much on familiar conventions. Still, it was totally satisfying and frequently exciting, like Ben Kingsley's beguilingly shiny head. (?)
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