By Katherine Ramsland 

(Continued)

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Chapter 3: Passing it On

While the filmmakers portray an addiction, they fail to note one truism about this condition: as the body gets used to it, addiction escalates and the cravings get demanding; the person's life generally erodes as he pursues what he most needs.  That appears not to be true of Mr. Brooks.  He regrets what he does, to be sure, but each new incident seems on the same level as each earlier one.  Still, the addiction plot may not really be about disease so much as the "addiction gene."  Brooks has a daughter who's pregnant, and who's also a budding serial killer.  He must face that as well.

There's little by way of motivation in this film.  We never know why Brooks developed the compulsion to kill, nor his pampered daughter.  The writers may have realized that while they can suggest the hereditary disposition, they can't really defend it, because there's no evidence for a murder-specific physiological compulsion, especially without the interplay of an abusive environment. 

William Hurt and Kevin Costner

Costner, playing completely against type, nevertheless believes that the story has given Brooks sufficient humanity for the audience to care: even as they despise what he does, they might feel sorry for him.  Yet the actor doesn't seem to understand that caring about a killer diminishes the worth of the victims, and there's little doubt that in this film, victims are dispensable pawns.

There's another concern as well: when we start making our monsters charming and fun, rather than threatening, we lose our fear of them.  Do we really want to achieve that goal?  Perhaps this film reflects something ahead for our society. 

There's a set-up for a sequel that involves the daughter, should this movie do well, and there are a few of those dangerous "loose ends."  Brooks might be smart but he has some blind spots, thanks to his ambivalence.  And in a classic BTK-type move, he's already urged Detective Atwood to keep thinking about him.

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by Katherine Ramsland

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