To Catch a Killer (2023 film)

To Catch a Killer (2023 film)
To Catch a Killer is a 2023 American crime thriller film directed by Damián Szifron and written by Szifron and Jonathan Wakeham. It stars Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo and Ralph Ineson. In the film, a talented but troubled young Baltimore cop is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track down a murderer. The film marks Szifron's English-language debut.
Vertical Entertainment gave it a limited theatrical release on April 21, 2023, and it received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
On New Year's Eve in Baltimore, a sniper begins killing random revelers at a variety of roof-top parties, using firework explosions as cover. Beat cop Eleanor Falco is among those who responds, helping move survivors to safety. Police identify the shooter’s location as an apartment overlooking the area, just before it explodes. Eleanor rushes to the exit of the building, where residents are streaming out, and helps capture video of potential suspects leaving the scene. She then follows firemen and members into the building, and despite heavy smoke, climbs the 17 stories to the apartment without a gasmask. SWAT clears the apartment, and determines that no one has died there. Eleanor climbs to the exposed edge and nearly falls to her death as she passes out from smoke inhalation.
At the police headquarters, the manhunt commences, led by Special Agent Lammark of the FBI. After reminding the officers to think careful about who they perceive the shooter to be, Lammark meets Eleanor in the break room, and is impressed by her perceptiveness. The next morning, Lammark requests that Eleanor meet him for coffee, where he explains that he wants her, along with fellow officer Jack McKenzie, to work directly with him as liaisons with the Baltimore police during the investigation. They both accept.
At the Bureau, forensic clues are few. McKenzie explains that the apartment was uninhabited and there is nothing to indicate any of the building staff or residents committed the crime. Lammark is furious when he must sign off on a demand from the mayor’s office that the city will not impose a curfew or travel restrictions during the manhunt. Another agent reveals that the explosion was caused by a grenade paired with a deliberate gas leak, and that the rifle used for the shooting is a US Army weapon, over 40 years old. This leads Eleanor to voice the suspicion that the shooter got the weapon from a stockpile of retired arms.
Lammark, Eleanor and McKenzie travel to the morgue where the victims of the shooting are being kept, and speculate on the shooter’s motive. They are interrupted by the news that Baltimore police believe they have the shooter surrounded, and hurry to the scene. Upon arriving, they are presented with very thin evidence that a troubled local youth perpetrated the crime, but before Lammark can intervene, tactical police enter the youth’s apartment, and cause him to jump out the window, killing himself and angering Lammark.
Returning to the Bureau, Lammark, Eleanor and McKenzie interview three painters who painted the empty apartment, years prior. Afterwards, Lammark takes Eleanor home for dinner, where they and his husband Gavin contemplate the killer’s motive. Lammark reveals that he has learned that Eleanor once applied to join the FBI, but failed her psychological evaluation. Eleanor explains that in the past she suffered from various mental health issues and addictions, including self harm, and joined the police as a means of taking her life back.
The next day, the killer commits a mass shooting at a mall. Through security cameras, the team observes the killer and sees him stash a shirt in a bathroom trash can, which is subsequently emptied by cleaning staff. While Lammark meets with the mayor, Eleanor and McKenzie chase down the shirt at the landfill.
Back at the Bureau, new forensic clues come to light. Under pressure from the Mayor’s office, Lammark engages in a risky strategy of showing security footage from the mall on live TV, and encouraging members of the public to call with information. Someone posing as the killer calls, and police trace the call, and follow the caller and three allies to a pharmacy. A shootout ensues, leading to the death of the caller’s three allies. Interrogation reveals what Eleanor suspected: that he is not the killer, just a prank caller. In the aftermath, Lammark is relieved of his post for his failure to apprehend the killer, and the collateral damage caused by this most recent strategy.
Eleanor goes home, depressed about her role in Lammark’s firing. She contemplates self-harm, but ultimately comes to a realization about the story told by one of the painters. She confronts him, and he reveals that he had subcontracted a man fitting the description of the killer when painting the apartment. The painter reveals that this man once worked for a slaughterhouse in south Maryland, and provides his description. Eleanor and Lammark travel to said slaughterhouse, and interview the killer’s former boss, who confirms the killer’s name: Dean Possey, the son of a former shooting instructor for the US Rangers.
Eleanor and Lammark visit Mrs. Possey, his mother. She claims to have not seen him in years, but reveals that his father accidentally shot him in the head as a child, leading to a lifetime of social isolation. Dean is revealed to be hiding in the shed out back when he shoots and kills Lammark. Eleanor convinces Mrs. Possey to reason with Dean, but when he refuses to listen, Mrs. Possey kills herself. Dean enters the house and he and Eleanor discuss how much he hates the noise of society and just wants to be left in peace. He asks Eleanor to kill him after he falls asleep, but before she can, police arrive and he knocks her unconscious. He drags her into a secret tunnel below the shed, and kills the two police officers, but not before one of them calls for backup.
Backup arrives, led by McKenzie. Eleanor tries to reason with Dean but he will not listen. He blows up the shed, dazing the officers. Eleanor continues to plead with him, drawing him close enough for her to bite his neck, seriously wounding him. He escapes out the back. She subsequently escapes and rejoins McKenzie. The police track Dean to a nearby factory. After a moment’s pause, he raises a gun at them and is fatally shot.
Later, Eleanor interviews with the mayor and his associates. They buy her silence on the true circumstances of Dean’s death in exchange for a position at the FBI and posthumous honors for Lammark. She walks to work.
Cast
Shailene Woodley as Eleanor
Ben Mendelsohn as Lammark
Jovan Adepo as Jack Mackenzie
Ralph Ineson as Dean
Rosemary Dunsmore as Mrs. Possey
Production
In May 2019, Shailene Woodley joined the cast of the film, then titled Misanthrope, with Damián Szifron directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jonathan Wakeham. Woodley also produced the film, which is Szifron's English-language debut. In October 2019, it was announced Mark Strong was in talks to join the cast. In December 2020, Ben Mendelsohn joined the cast. In January 2021, Jovan Adepo was cast. Ralph Ineson was revealed as part of the cast in March 2021.
In May 2019, it was reported that filming would take place in Atlanta that year. Filming took place instead in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from January 27 to March 10, 2021.
Release
In November 2022, Vertical Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was retitled from Misanthrope to To Catch a Killer, and released in theaters on April 21, 2023.
Reception
Critical response
Box office
To Catch a Killer, with a limited theatrical release, grossed $3.1million, in foreign territories.
References
External links
2023 crime thriller films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s police procedural films
2020s serial killer films
American crime thriller films
American police detective films
American serial killer films
Fictional portrayals of the Baltimore Police Department
FilmNation Entertainment films
Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Films about mass murder
Films about snipers
Films directed by Damián Szifron
Films scored by Carter Burwell
Films set in Baltimore
Films shot in Montreal
Vertical Entertainment films