In a number of ways ‘Taking Lives’ fulfils expectations of a typical thriller. For example a typical thriller centres on an ‘ordinary’ protagonist who at some point in the film becomes extraordinary either through a journey or crime. However thrillers tend to end with the protagonist returning to normality. Taking Lives is a journey for Illeana [Angelina Jolie] as she tries to catch the serial killer and return to day to day life. In that way Taking Lives follows a typical pattern of a thriller. However the use of a strong female lead is not seen as regularly in the thriller genre. For example Fight Club, which centres around two lead male characters [Edward Norton, Brad Pitt] and an almost entirely male cast. In a way the thriller genre tends to be considered a more masculine genre with most thrillers being led by a typically masculine male. For this reason Taking Lives does not fully conform to everything an audience expects from a thriller.
Thriller’s often play on human nature, not only that of the characters but also of the audience watching the film. In watching Taking Lives the audience gets more and more accepting of Costa, [Ethan Hawke] so when he is revealed as the killer the audience feels cheated similarly to Illeana. The writer and director of thrillers tend to play on human emotion and how the audience responds to certain characters and with Costa until the final penultimate few minutes, the viewer wouldn’t be able to believe that the timid art dealer was capable of such things. For this reason Taking Lives does conform to a thriller genre, as throughout the film the audience is led down blind alleys relying only on the emotion and feelings they have developed for each character.
Another contributing feature in a thriller is the graphic images of violence. A lot of thrillers operate mainly through sound and suggestion, for example at the beginning of Taking Lives when the boy is first pushed in front of the van. The audience never actually sees the stone smash his face instead it is done through sound and a fade to black. However towards the end of the film Illeana finds Costa in the lift after having killed his mother. At that point the audience bears witness to a hugely graphic moment of violence. The violence at this part of the film is so much more visual than anything shown previously however it seems necessary in explaining the capabilities of Costa, who until that moment had seemed virtually harmless. Once again the film plays on human psychology and it is arguable that without it the audience would not truly detach themselves from the romantic image of Costa at the start of the film. Similarly to Taking Lives another thriller that plays on the suggestion of violence throughout is Disturbia; it’s only in the final moments that the audience can be sure that Mr Turner is a killer based on the blatant images of bodies in his house. Taking Lives in this way does subvert to the Thriller genre, instead of gore and violence throughout it is much more psychologically complex and potentially more frightening for the audience to imagine what may have just happened in response to the build up and sounds effects.
To produce a good, attention grabbing thriller there needs to be an element of suspense throughout the film. Due to the plot of Taking Lives, for example the mystery surrounding the killer’s identity, there is always a suspenseful feeling. This builds in certain places in the film for example when Illeana first investigates Martin’s old bedroom. Taking Lives subverts to the thriller genre with the heightened tension brought about through the dark setting and the non-digetic music in the background. This scene in Taking Lives conforms to a typical crime thriller, however instead of the tension building to a point when someone/something jumps out Illeana lies down on the bed, breaking the suspense and relaxing the audience only to add to the shock when Martin’s arms come out from underneath the bed. Taking Lives is very good at following typical almost clichéd features in Thriller films and altering them to mess with the audience even more.
Another way in which Taking Lives conforms to the Thriller genre is through a few strong action sequences. Differentiating itself from an action adventure, thrillers tend to only use action sequences when they are driven by the characters rather than the plot. For example the car chase is vital as it helps develop the character of Costa and build him up an alibi. The car chase was much more specific to the situation rather than to the progression of the plot. This is a trend that is seen most commonly in thrillers. Action sequences are quite difficult for a viewer to follow therefore they only occupy a small section of a typical thriller so as to maintain the pace of the film.
Taking Lives strongly conforms to what an audience would expect of a film in the thriller genre. It is very character driven, and plays on human emotions and psychology rather than showing an audience visual images. There is a continuous element of suspense throughout this film as is with most thrillers for example ‘The Usual Suspects’ which builds until the very last moment when the true identity of ‘Kaiser Sosay’ or in this case Martin is revealed. Thrillers tend not to be dominated by action sequences, only incorporating a few in vital moments of the film to quicken the pace; similarly Taking Lives follows this pattern. Taking Lives is a very strong thriller, confusing and enthralling the audience, it subverts to what would be expected of a typical thriller and adds twists to play more on the audience’s emotions and human nature.
