DAMAGED
(director: Terry McDonough; screenwriters: Paul Aniello, story by Gianni Capaldi, Koji Steven Sakai; cinematographer: Matthias Potsch; editors: Sean Albertson, Luis de la Madrid, Kurt Nishimura; music: Andrea Ridolfi; cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Dan Lawson), Vincent Cassel (Walker Bravo), Gianni Capaldi (DCI Glen Boyd), Laura Haddock (Marie Boyd), John Hannah (Colin McGregor), Kate Dickie (Laura Kessler), Brian McArdie (Avery Thompson), Nicolette McKeown (Abigail Myers); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Paul Aniello, Roman Kopelevich; Lionsgate; 2024)
“The film’s main strength is in its great Scotland location shots.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Terry McDonough is a longtime TV director getting his first shot at directing a feature film. The formulaic procedural thriller is written by Paul Aniello and Koji Steven Sakai, who adapt it to the screen from a story by Gianni Capaldi. It’s a routine serial killer film that’s efficiently made but with a convoluted plot.
In the Highlands of Scotland a serial killer has left a series of grisly satanic ritual killings (dismembered body parts are placed as a cross) that resemble those 6 killing scenes from five years ago in Chicago. Chicago homicide detective Dan Lawson (Samuel L. Jackson) investigated those sadistic killings, where one of the victims was his girlfriend. His department lends him to help in Edinburgh, the Scottish Chief Inspector Glen Boyd (Gianni Capaldi) and his partner Laura Kessler (Kate Dickey).
Lawson has a drinking problem, while Boyd has a strained relationship problem with his wife (Laura Haddock)–she has not stopped grieving over the recent loss of their only infant child.
Lawson gets additional help from his now sober former partner, Bravo (Vincent Cassel). The retired Frenchman is a London residing crime novelist and a security consultant.
The chief suspect is a former member of a religious cult, Colin McGregor (John Hannah), who remains free only because of his air-tight alibi.
The film’s main strength is in its great Scotland location shots, its chases and its fine ensemble cast.
By the third act the poorly scripted pic unravels from its large plot holes, as the identity of the killer is revealed in a process that makes no sense.
The title refers to all the lead characters being damaged goods.
REVIEWED ON 7/5/2024 GRADE: C+