2:13 (2009)

Studio: Echo Bridge
DVD Release: June 7, 2011
Not Rated

Review by James Klein

I am not one to be a fan of the suspense thriller genre. Cops on the trail of a serial killer. Detectives trying to figure out the DNA of the murderer and wondering who the killer's identity is or what his/her motive is. The big explanation at the end as to what or who the killer came to be. To me, the suspense thriller genre is the watered down horror genre. My Mom likes suspense thrillers, ok? I find more originality in horror films with less clichés than I do with the suspense thriller genre. I was hoping 2:13 would maybe be a bit different than the same old suspense thriller characteristics. Alas, it is much of the same.

Mark Thompson wrote and stars as Det. Russell Spivey, an L.A. detective who was on psychiatric leave and is now back with his old team of profilers. His team is working on tracking down a serial killer that has killed a few women (one murder that happens before the opening credits is pretty graphic and had my wife running away to the bedroom within two minutes of the opening) until the killer is suddenly targeting Spivey. He finds each victim with a mask and/or word games left with the bodies that Spivey starts to recognize from his past.

While Thompson does a very good job in the role of Spivey, his screenplay is a typical by-the-numbers suspense thriller and felt like a long episode of one of those CSI shows. The detective is super intelligent to the point where he can figure out almost anything by coincidence. The one female member of his team is his lover whose also attractive and tough. The last twenty minutes of the film is Spivey and the killer talking to one another while the scene is used to explain to the audience what just happened, filling them in as to how the whole story and characters link together. It's these clichés that drive me bonkers when I watch these movies. I also can't stand films that try to make you guess who the killer is. Not to toot my own horn, but I always figure it out and it was fairly easy to figure out who the killer is in 2:13.

The film isn't without a few good moments as some of the make up effects are rather effective, the performances are good (especially a funny cameo by Dwight Yoakam) and as I said before, the opening really had me as the death of this one female victim was both scary and graphic. But with all the typical clichés and the explanation of the story told by the characters, I got bored with 2:13 very quickly. I just don't understand people who enjoy these kind of films. I find them really boring and predictable. But then again, my Mom says the same thing when I feel like watching Dawn of the Dead or a Friday the 13th film. It's all an acquired taste.