MURDER BY NUMBERS

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, foul language, thematic elements

Rated:

High School is tough, particularly if you're not in the "in crowd." But it becomes even more difficult when you're two halves of a single whole. Jason (Michael Pitt) and Richard (Ryan Gosling) are secretly best friends, but in public they avoid and mock one another. Richard has it all -- clothes, girls, money, and enough charm to derail a train. Jason has brains, intelligence, forensics knowledge, and gets top grades. On the surface they're both calm, cool, and just "one of the gang," but beneath have sinister theories about the relativity of man, right and wrong, and being able to excuse inhumane behavior. They've plotted out the perfect crime. Random, horrible, deadly. They've planted the evidence, and now want to watch it unfold as the police follow their series of miniscule clues to the end they desire. They're confident and quirky, but haven't counted in one important factor...

Detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock), newly assigned to the murder case. A young woman is found strangled in the woods, dumped in a plastic tarp with strangulation wounds around her neck and her ring finger missing. Helping break in her new partner Sam (Ben Chaplin), Cassie asks him for a prognosis. He reaches basically the same conclusion she does. The clues are scanty. Some carpet fibers, a thread off a piece of foreign cloth, some vomit on the ground nearby. The case brings back nightmares from her past. Fighting her emotions and struggling to maintain a clear head while pushing everyone she's fond of far enough away so they cannot become attached, Cassie is determined to solve this murder at all costs. Boot prints near the body lead her to a local high school and the local hunky blonde. Richard seems willing enough to give them whatever assistance they require, but she simply doesn't trust him. He's sexy, suave, and gives her bad vibes.

Through a series of mild revelations she also comes to know Jason, and rapidly threads begin to unravel. Cassie is almost certain the boys committed the crime but has no proof of their guilt. Sam doesn't believe the boys are guilty. His captain has serious questions about Cassie's mental state. In the meantime the boys are experiencing turbulence revolving around Jason's new girlfriend (Agnes Bruckner). What follows is an intense, exciting, and chilling tale loosely based on real-life events. While dealing with heavy topics, the film is actually much less graphic than it could have been. The director chose to avoid gore and brutality because "the subject manner is disturbing enough." It also raises serious questions about modern philosophies concerning how much life is worth, whether right and wrong is based on social perceptions or individual feelings, and if absentee parents contribute to immoral and even deranged habits and ideals in young men. This film screams that they do, since neither Richard or Jason has parental authority. Richard's father is a wealthy workaholic, and Jason's mom never budges from her television set. They have no notion of what's going on in their sons' lives, which is sadly true of recent actual crimes like Columbine. The boys are into drugs, crime books, and unpopular theology.

Classic film fans will acknowledge this script as based loosely on Hitchcock's Rope, in which two men kill someone just to see if they can get away with it. Essentially that's what drives Richard and Jason but interestingly enough in a twist toward the end we realize all along we've been deceived about their malicious nature. They both had qualms about murder. The kidnapping was easy but the actual murder was much harder, therefore enforcing that deep down despite all their courageous rhetoric they knew it was evil. After that, the self-preservation instinct kicks in and they will do anything to remain at large. Those fond of psychology and criminal analysis will enjoy perusing the morbid structure of the film in order to help figure out human nature's darker side, but those just looking for a good thriller may want to think twice. Because the main hinge is murder and manipulation, along with strong thematic elements as Cassie faces her unstable past, Murder by Numbers makes for a very serious, very dark exploration of human weakness. Involved are various psychological elements, such as why Cassie refuses to become emotionally involved in relationships, why she is intimidated by Richard, and why the police force keeps such a close eye on her.

Then there are content issues. Ten f-words, half of them used sexually, along with other mild profanities and two abuses of Christ's name. Richard and Jason purchase illegal drugs from the school janitor, and drink the main ingredient of marijuana in celebration of their crimes. Richard smokes like a chimney. Thematic elements involve a woman being stalked and hit over the head with a hammer. The boys tie her up, throw her into the trunk of a car, and take her to a house under construction. We're given a harrowing glimpse of her dead body on several occasions; her eyes are dilated and bloody, there are "holes" in her skin from being stabbed after death with a screwdriver (this is implied in flashbacks but we never see the actual impact), and her ring finger is missing (a bloodied stump). They contemplate a suicide pact; guns come into play in a shoot-out. A man struggles with a woman on several occasions, trying to steal her keys from the car (he's hit in the head with the car door when she backlashes), and force her over a shallow railing. It breaks, sending one to their death on the rocks below. 

This scuffle involves mild sexual overtones; the man kisses the woman and licks her face. His scene attempting to prevent her from leaving in the car also carries implications. It's evident on one hand he merely wants the evidence in the car beside her, but he uses an attempt to kiss her as an opportunity. He then takes to an emotionally violent string of accusations that leaves her in tears. The school janitor has a collection of porno tapes in his trailer (known through conversation) and while he fetches Richard his local purchase of "weed," we hear one in the background. Cassie and Sam get frisky on the couch, which leads inevitably to sex... not for a long-term commitment, but "because it's fun." (She promptly kicks him out of bed afterwards and tells him to go home.) Later she reaches for his groin with her foot. In a perverse twist, Richard mocks Jason for not bedding Lisa after he helped her ace an exam, then hands his friend a computer disk. On it Richard is shown in bed with Lisa. He calls up later and apologizes, saying he just wanted to show Jason what a "little slut she is," and that "she's not good enough for you." Lisa has paintings of nude girls in her room and claims to have modeled for them. 

There was never any indication that the boys physically abused the girl they murdered, thereby ruling out any themes of rape that might have been involved. Focus on the Family's reviewer said there was an undercurrent of implied homosexual affection between the boys. Being sensitive to this issue and analyzing it with that in mind, I was unable to deduce it. Jason and Richard embrace on numerous occasions but it wasn't necessarily sexual; it was obsessive and possessive, but not offensive. It was more of a cruel, sadistic game between them than anything else. It's a psychological twist of manipulation and control issues. Richard seems the candidate to be in charge, but Jason has the ultimate upper hand. They make for an incredibly fascinating pair, which is an issue more threatening than actual content: the ability to be enthralled by such horrible boys. Many people dislike this film with good cause; it has too many content issues to be recommendable.

There are good things about it, such as what Cassie says about life -- you only get one and must deal with the consequences of your actions. Watching two confident figures go into total breakdown after they've committed an inexcusable crime is fascinating. It's a sorrowful look at the methodical madness of teens without any moral guidance. For me it was a complex, enthralling glimpse into the world of crime. The "interrogation" scenes at the police office, the final showdown at the broken-down cabin on the cliffs, and the absolutely stunning acting (the boys in particular are very effective; Ryan Gosling wavers between cold and abusive, smart and sexy, and completely terrifying) swept me into a world with deep shadows. Only at the end does the light begin to penetrate, and leave us with both sorrow and hope for the future.