'Taking Lives', film analysis

In what ways does ‘taking lives’ conform or subvert what you consider to be the forms and conventions of the thriller genre?

The film ‘Taking lives’ shows many of the features that the thriller genre should include. But does also show some subvert aspects, not usually seen as much in thriller genre. The film provides various aspects of suspense, mystery, confusion and the idea of the unknown.

One way the film ‘Taking lives’ fits the thriller genre is by incorporating heavy theme of mystery and confusion. For example no first time watcher would have figured out who the killer was in the film until very near the end, because of clever twists in the plot. By backtracking to scenes that occurred earlier in the film that are viewed from different perspectives the film ads confusion and a twist of mystery, fulfilling the thriller genre.

Another quality that ‘Taking lives’ has that makes it fit into a stereotypical thriller genre is the use of suspense to build up the tension of the people viewing the film. As in most good thriller based films, the suspense always begins once the background music either stops, or becomes fainter, so that a loud noise can suddenly erupt or so that the viewer can focus their attention on the next scene, that will shock them!

However, ‘Taking lives’ does not have all the ‘guidelines’ of a thriller genre. For example, the main character is a female FBI agent rather than the usual everyday ‘normal’ person in a horrific situation that usually helps the viewers to empathise for the character. In comparison to a film that does have a ‘normal’ person in an unlikely situation, e.g. ‘No vacancy’. Two everyday people are trapped in a hotel after their car conveniently breaks down outside, and are horrified when they realize the horror films in their room are real footage of people being murdered to death where they are sitting.

My conclusion is that taking lives has most of the aspects required to create a good thriller film, e.g. suspense, mystery and twists. However does show signs that are not commonly used in the genre. For example using a hero style character, rather than an antihero.