# Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996)

### reviewed by
Jerry Saravia

"Killer: A Journal of Murder" is a laborious, clear-studied case in excess: it is relentlessly overdone with bad acting, bad direction, and laughably pretentious dialogue to boot. All I could keep asking myself was: why did Oliver Stone serve as one of the executive producers of this junk?

The "killer" of the title is Leavenworth convict Carl Panzram (James Woods), a real-life murderer who killed every person or thing that crossed his path without hesitation. Carl is a thoroughly repellent, remorseless, amoral human being with no redeeming values or virtues whatsoever, except that he's a brilliant writer and an intellectual. Oh, really? Apparently, a Jewish prison guard (Robert Sean Leonard) takes an interest in this killer, and brings him writing supplies and a notepad so that Carl can write his life, er death, stories. Harold Gould plays the prison guard as an old man as he narrates the story of Carl, who in turn tells us his side of the story, the basis for the "journal," in amateurish flashbacks complete with badly edited newsreel footage.

Director Tim Metcalfe has no idea how to steer such unpleasant material so he takes the Peckinpah approach: he throws everything up in the air without sorting any of the details or characters (Metcalfe dedicates the film to Sam Peckinpah). For instance, why would a Jewish prison guard be interested in a character like Carl? What about the other inmates? And why is Carl depicted as devoid of human feeling only to turn into a compassionate, saintly figure by the end of the film? And why is Lili Taylor's cameo so much more effective than anything else in the movie?

"Killer" is ambiguous, dull, and uninteresting; the narrative structure is so sloppily fragmented that it will give you a migraine. The actors give forced, listless performances, especially the unconvincing Robert Sean Leonard ("Dead Poets Society"). For a look at Woods's more subtle, less maniacal roles, check out "True Believer," "Cop" and "The Boost." Anything's better than this tripe.

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E-mail me with questions, concerns, or complaints at Faust667@aol.com or at jerry@movieluver.com

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