HANGMAN – Review

Review by Cary Paller

A homicide detective teams up with a criminal profiler to catch a serial killer whose crimes are inspired by the children’s game HANGMAN. This is the tag line for this direct to video film trying to be the new “Seven”.   After that the comparisons disappear quite fast.

“Hangman” is a great game to play as a child.  But having to play it as an adult is just bad form.  Now let’s play the game that a killer wants the audience to play like it will make sense in the end.  What makes “Seven” the classic, unforgettable movie that it is  and “Hangman” not so good? Movies need to have a larger than life feeling to them.  They are not episodic TV shows that repeat the plot over and over again. Case in point after so many years on the air shows like “Law and Order” and “Criminal Minds” tend to use plots that the bad guys are after the hero’s directly.  I hate those episodes so much.   “Hangman”  just skims the surface of any real terror or shock because that same formula.  It just falls flat over it’s own weak script.

While the production team did a great job in securing the acting talent of Al Pacino, Karl Urban and Brittany Snow there really is not much to get excited about.  They have so little to work with.  Pacino, does a good job at making the most of it.  He is a true professional and his work does over shadow the other leads.   Karl Urban’s performance was so stiff it felt like he was reading off of cue cards.  Brittney Snow was good enough to keep up with her two male stars but she felt tacked on just to have a female lead in the film.  She just wandered around and somehow ended up in the frame standing behind the Al Pacino.  It just feels cheap.

The bright spot was the atmospheric cinematography.  It was above average for a smaller budget film.  But the limitation do show.  Most small budget film tend to use bright lights placed outside shooting into windows.  Which I suppose is to create the feeling of dread that a person will get killed any minute.  It just comes off like a bad “Criminal Minds” episode.

Would I recommend HANGMAN ?  Yes, why not?  It is kinda that, “OK, we can watch it before we fall asleep movie.” Al Pacino is in it. It is always good to watch a true American icon work.

HANGMAN will be available on VOD  June 4th