Taking lives Essay

In what ways does ‘Taking Lives’ conform to or subvert what you consider to be the forms and conventions of the thriller genre?

Taking lives is a thriller film created by D.J. Caruso in 2004. It is based around the story of a serial killer being investigated by the French-Canadian police. Angelina Jolie stars as the American investigator hired to assist in the case.

Taking lives conforms to many conventions of the thriller genre as it combines suspense, mystery and using the audiences own human nature against them.

One of the main conventions of a thriller is Suspense and tension. A thriller simply cannot exist without this; it is the basic essence of the genre. Having the audience at the edge of their seat before every climax is the main goal and ‘Taking Lives’ achieves this well by combining music with close up camera angles and cut transitions, this allows the audience to see what the character is seeing, therefore making it harder for the viewer to guess what will happen next. Caruso also uses music to distract the audience from what will actually happen, by making us expect something, sometimes a while before it actually happens, making it more tense when while the audience waits. Using suspense is a very clever technique used by all thrillers and helps keep a story moving, though there is a line where too much suspense can be unhelpful to a situation, this isn’t a problem with ‘T.L’ however.

Another form that is generally seen in a thriller is the ‘whodunit’ factor. Having the audience try to guess along with the film, getting them involved in the actual story and trying to figure things out before the hero does. This is done in ‘T.L’ by using major plot twists like changing our perception of a character and allowing the audience to follow the investigation along with the characters, rather than knowing things beforehand as is a convention of most television dramas. There are many plot twists and surprises throughout the film that keep the audience on their feet and constantly guessing, Caruso plays on our natural human curiosity to constantly know more, and this is what makes this successful as a crime thriller.

One area where Taking Lives subverts our normal convention of a thriller is where things return to normal. In ‘T.L’ even though the case is solved and the film ends with the case finished, there isn’t actually any evidence of things returning to normal for the characters. Although this was most likely a smart move on the directors part, as it may have spoilt the definite relief at the end, in other thrillers such as ‘The butterfly effect’ (2004) there is a montage effect of life after the ending, this may have been a good thing for Caruso to include possibly.

Also, Taking lives plays on the viewer’s basic human nature to be drawn into the story, which is what I would consider to be an important convention of the thriller genre. It also uses the basic psychological process of human trust. In both audience and the character of detective Illeana, there is a joint trust in the character of James Costa which is built up as the film follows its course and then broken down at the end with the final plot twist, however this twist comes as much of a shock to the lead as it does to the audience after we have spent so long building our trust. At the very beginning of the film the audience sees the killer as a young boy, using this trust factor Caruso coerces the viewer into believing that this boy is just like any other and we are lured into a false sense of security. However this is broken suddenly when he randomly murders his first victim – another young lad he was travelling with.

In conclusion ‘Taking Lives’ generally follows the main conventions of the thriller genre while subverting a few select forms that make the film what it is. There are other conventions that ‘T.L’ addresses such as the action scenes, however, the main points like suspense and puzzles are used more inventively and effectively, which makes this film such a success.