This Keanu Reeves Casting Decision (Still) Makes Zero Sense

Director Joe Charbanic’s “The Watcher” (2000) is among the many post-“Seven” (1995) serial killer thrillers that appear by the dozen every year.

It’s still the only one where you’ll see Keanu Reeves playing a murderer and James Spader as the FBI agent obsessed with catching him.

Charbanic’s sole directing credit isn’t a total disaster and certainly holds our interest, but there’s little here that distinguishes it from every other subpar “Seven” rip-off.

Spader is a law-enforcer-on-the-edge (is there any other kind in these movies?), on the trail of a sadistic murderer named Griffin (Reeves) who strangles his female victims with piano wire. Marisa Tomei plays Spader’s sympathetic police shrink, who later becomes his love interest and, of course, a prey for Griffin.

The stories around “The Watcher” are so much more interesting than the film itself. If you watch the movie and know nothing about its troubled history, you’re likely to forget it, move on and barely recall watching it weeks later.

On the other hand, if you know what Reeves went through, the movie plays like a juicy piece of evidence, Exhibit A in a major crime scene.

I first heard of the film when a full-page ad of it was posted in either Variety or The Hollywood Reporter. The artwork portrayed Reeves, looking like he just stepped off the set of “The Matrix,” running for his life.

The title of the film, listed as “In Production,” was “Driven.” This was in late 1999. A year later, the film was released under the title of “The Watcher” and had a tellingly odd touch on its promotional materials: despite Reeves being the film’s obvious chief draw, his name came third on the bill, below co-stars Spader and Tomei.

The star’s name also appeared in unusually small print.

Word began to spread, prior to opening day, that Reeves only appeared in the film because he was “contractually obligated.” Apparently, he didn’t want what happened to Kim Basinger on “Boxing Helena” (in which she was sued for backing out of the 1993 film) to be his fate.

A year later, Reeves was doing an interview for The Guardian. The reporter brought up “The Watcher,” and Reeves let his guard down. Reeves revealed that, because it had been a year, he could now discuss the film.

Turns out, not only did he not want to do “The Watcher,” and was unhappy that his cameo role was extended, but a friend of Reeves forged his name on the contract. Rather than fight it, and potentially face the negative press and financial fall-out that Basinger suffered, he agreed to appear in the movie.

This news might have created a bigger stir, had it not first appeared in the press on September 11, 2001.

“The Watcher” was the # 1 movie in America for two weeks, which said more about Reeves’ box office power than the film itself, which made a medium amount of coin in a slow September.

There’s an odd bit in the film’s opening scene, where Reeves does a sort of dance around his victim, while Rob Zombie music pummels the soundtrack. It may have been intended as a tribute to “The Matrix” but it looks like a weird outtake that somehow made the final cut.

There’s a well-staged chase scene, punctuated by impressive non-CGI fireballs- a contrast to the CGI-heavy and utterly phony fireballs during the climax.

Spader is unquestionably good at playing men on the very edge, and he brings authority to a film that badly needs it. Still, the chief problem isn’t the old-hat screenplay but Reeves, who is utterly wrong for his role. Reeves has the kind of smile that can be either charming or menacing, but he never makes us believe in the danger of his character.

“The Watcher” is one of those bad movies I revisit every 10 years or so. Why? I’m curious if time has been kind to it and if there’s still a perverse fascination in watching Reeves in a performance he was essentially forced to give.

No to the first question but a big yes to the latter.

There are enough moments, particularly when it’s just Spader and Reeves, that indicate this might have worked, but the promising bits are surrounded by scenes punctuated by bad choices (such as laughable dialogue, too much grainy slow motion and an awful score by Marco Beltrami).

Considering how truly scary Reeves was in Sam Raimi’s “The Gift” (2000), his woeful miscasting in “The Watcher” fully underscores the limitations of his performance. Reeves can deliver, but the material, director and circumstances must be in his corner.

The only reward to Reeves’ suffering through the making and aftermath of “The Watcher” is that only his most devoted fans will remember how silly and awkward he looked strangling his victims with piano wire.

The post This Keanu Reeves Casting Decision (Still) Makes Zero Sense appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.