Hangman, the thriller about a homicide detective and a criminal profiler hunting a serial killer is not a great movie. Starring Al Pacino, Karl Urban and Brittany Snow; within the first quarter of the film, it was already clear to me that the story wasn’t flowing as well as a thriller of this sort ought to, in order to be good – let alone great.

Something didn’t quite gel for me between the characters played by Urban and Pacino. Maybe it’s a lack of chemistry, perhaps the writing, or all the above and then some. I just knew that this wasn’t going to be a serial killer movie that would make me forget even for a second about Se7en (1995), one of the best of the genre.

As awkward as the story set up felt initially, things did pick up somewhat in terms of happenings that had me paying attention. Still, overall there really isn’t anything in Hangman that will having you insisting that others must watch. I’d usually say ‘watch it if you absolutely must’ at this point. However in this case, by ‘absolutely must’ I’d mean, so you can see for yourself how the film missed the mark in terms of story structure, seamless character background introductions and awkward dialogue that played a part in making generally good actors look bad.

Have you seen Hangman? If so, do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Happy Film Loving

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