‘Damaged’ Review: Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Cassel Headline a Slick but Tepid Serial Killer Thriller
variety.comDennis Harvey Film Critic At their least, the myriad serial-killer movies that followed in the imitative wake of “Se7en” three decades ago have gotten the grisly part down, but find compelling suspense, atmospherics and original narrative ideas harder to come by.
Such is certainly the case with “Damaged,” which serves up a considerable number of victims’ severed limbs, yet is likely to leave scant impression — scarring or otherwise — on the viewer.
Though Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Cassel are top-billed, Gianni Capaldi (who also co-wrote and produced) is essentially the lead here as an Edinburgh detective on the trail of a murderer whose crimes appear to extend those of a Chicago perp six years prior.
There’s a similar lopsidedness to the character dynamics, as the convoluted story sometimes seems to dole out emphasis more for reasons of marquee value than narrative logic.
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