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A little too much like the book it’s based on for its own good, the gratuitously-titled The Bone Collector (people would hardly flock to something called The Dandruff Collector, now would they?) from director Phillip Noyce (The Saint, and both of Harrison Ford’s Tom Clancy adaptations) has all the elements that can turn a passable weekend read into an also-ran movie, big opening-weekend boxoffice notwithstanding.
The usual mystery formula is skewed a bit: hero/criminalist Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) is paralyzed and suicidal, so when a tantalizing serial killer distracts his depression, he must depend on a gutsy, intuitive beat cop (Angelina Jolie) to do the legwork. But the details are pretty weak, starting out with the first victims, who will obviously never survive getting in a cab at Kennedy Airport and saying “We’ll be home before you know it!” Add a villain compelled to give out clues as if he were baiting Batman, a brash private nurse (Queen Latifah) whose jigsaw-puzzle skills just happen to be critical in solving the crimes, and a climactic confrontation requiring the bedridden Rhyme to engage in hand-to-hand -- well, hand-to-bed combat, and you have something that lacks the heart to be anything more than mildly diverting, despite being well-acted.
The most suspenseful element was wondering not if, but when Noyce would put Ms. Jolie in something more flattering than a shapeless NYC cop uniform. C
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