Mr. Brooks

The movie has very exciting twists and turns that kept me breathless. It was one of the most well-done movies I’ve seen in a long time, but it was also one of the most troubling. One point—as stated before, Brooks constantly “prays” to be released from his obsessions. But, who is he praying to? We have no evidence in this film that Mr. Brooks has ever accepted Jesus Christ. He just prays to the “higher power” espoused in AA philosophy. Consequently, his prayers are futile. The movie did cause me to pray for anyone with addictions or compulsions or obsessions that they desperately want to be set free from.

God through Jesus Christ can set us free—be it a food addiction, sexual additions, drugs—or murderous urges. The movie also dealt with possible “generational sin.” Mr. Brooks' daughter seems to take on the “sins of the father.” This knowledge devestates Brooks, but he handles the situation in the completely wrong way. I am not recommending this film. It is graphic and disturbing. But, there is a much here that a Christian can think about and pray about. Because, unfortunately, in the world in which we live, life often imitates art.

Mr. Brooks stars Kevin Costner as the ultimate family man who has just won “Man of the Year” in Portland, Oregon. He has a true passion for people and a love for his beautiful wife and daughter. He is relatively conservative and puts his Family above all else. The only problem is that he is an addict. Many people struggle with drinking, drugs and sex, however Mr. Brooks struggles with murder. He has not killed anyone in 2 years, but his alter ego is dying to get out and murder again. He tells his alter ego that he promised himself that he would never do it again and to leave him alone. However, the relationship between his good half and bad half come to a crossroads when he must make the decision whether he will kill again. Well, he does and the movie takes a path that I have never seen before. Showing the true compassion behind a wonderful man with a problem he desperately wants to find a resolution for. He knows that murdering is wrong, but something in him drives him to do so. One day, the curtains are left open and Dan Cook witnesses him murdering a couple across the street. If I told you anything else, I would be ruining the movie, so I will shut up now. But know that this movie will take you around so many corners that it will make your head spin with delight.

There is more subtle humor in this movie that will leave you laughing and speechless by the end of the movie. Not to mention that you are rooting for Costner the whole entire movie. You actually do not want Demi Moore to catch him, but at the same time you really want him to stop killing so that he can go on with his life. The emotional experience that the director and writer use to involve the audience is just brilliant. Everyone left this movie just as blown away as I was, and the other film critics in the theater that I saw, loved the movie.

Special Kudos:
Costner: Back and better than ever!
Demi: Thankfully she was not nude for a change, and she did great job in this movie! …she …proves she can still act.
Dane Cook: Proves he is an actor not just a comedian!
William Hurt: Nothing less than brilliant.

Warning to Parents and Christians:
Violence Factor: There is a lot of killing, but nothing overly graphic until the end. This movie is pretty mild, and although I compare this movie to “American Psycho” and Hannibal Lector, this movie is nowhere near as violent or vulgar.
Sex and Nudity Factor: Lots—There is a fairly long and graphic sex scene complete with nudity which leaves nothing for the imagination. Although I loved this movie, I so wish they would have left this out.
Language: There is not a whole lot of bad language, however it is R-Rated, and they do have their scattering of F-Words.

Also, Mr. Brooks has a daughter who drops out of college, and she is pregnant. Later you find out that a student at her school has been murdered, where Mr. Brooks and Marshall decide that his daughter has the same problem as he does, killing people. The police come and interrogate Mr. Brooks daughter. Mr. Brooks goes to the college and kills another student the same way the first one was killed so as to take any attention off of his daughter. You do not witness any of this, only his disguise and plane ride going there and him coming home afterwards.

Numerous times during the whole movie, Mr. Brooks is saying the confession that people in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) say—that they are powerless over themselves, and he asks God to help him to overcome his desire to kill; he seemed to be quoting scripture to himself and then asking for forgiveness each time he killed someone and tells himself this is the last killing, but Marshall, his imaginary friend, always chimes in and says, you know you will never stop killing people, you like it too much. Mr. Brooks went to AA meetings “because he had a bad habit.”

I am sure this is what the director was trying to imagine might be in the mind of a serial killer, one that loved his wife and daughter, had a fantastic job, owning his own business, lived in a fancy house, rich, rich, rich, but had this one little problem. He liked to kill people just for the pleasure of it.

Demi Moore was a multi millionaire who became a police officer because her father hated that she wasn’t born a boy, and she wanted to prove to him that she was tough. She played a very rough character who was going through a divorce from her husband, whom (her husband) was trying to get a huge settlement out of her. Her husband and his female lawyer (who were having an affair) were the 2nd couple that were murdered, it was not shown. It was Mr. Brooks and the young man who took pictures of Mr. Brooks killing the first couple who killed the 2nd couple, as Mr. Brooks promised the young man he would let him attend if he didn’t go to the police and turn Mr. Brooks in. Of course, as circumstances went on, Mr. Brooks ends up killing the young man.

In one scene, Demi Moore is in a shoot out in an apartment complex with a murderer she had arrested previously (he had escaped out of prison) and his girlfriend. The gun shots were so loud it was ridiculous. It was a silly scene. She is obsessed with cracking the “thumb print” murder case, (which is what Mr. Brooks murders were labeled at the police department because he would leave a bloody thumb print of the male and female of his victims somewhere in the room that the killing took place.) She never does find out that it is Mr. Brooks.

The movie was stupid to say the least. I guess that the acting was okay, but the Marshall character was more of a nuisance than entertaining. At the very end, Mr. Brooks has a dream that his daughter kills him with a pair of scissors, one time stab in his neck. That is the bloodiest scene in the whole movie, where Kevin Costner literally bleeds to death and it was gross. For a minute you think it is real, but then he wakes up in the bed with his wife comforting him to go back to sleep.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting with this movie, but what it was, was not what I cared to see. It was almost boring, but mainly stupid. There was some cussing, the terrible sex scene, the whole idea was sick, and I wish I had saved my money. It just wasn’t that entertaining.