Suspect Zero is the latest film in the increasingly tired "crazed serial killer on the lose" genre. While this movie does have an interesting plot element that's been thrown into the mix, Suspect Zero is about as cold and exciting as it's title. Despite getting off to a strong start in which a strange encounter at a diner in the middle of nowhere, leads to a horrific death - the movie then takes a turn into dullsville (much like the recent Taking Lives did).You would expect something a good bit more compelling with actors of this caliber, but the performances are barely above flatlining themselves.

Suspect Zero features Aaron Eckhart as Thomas Mackelway, an FBI who takes on a case that involves the mysterious deaths of elusive serial killers. The interesting plot element I alluded to above, revolves around strange loaner Benjamin O'Ryan (played by Ben Kingsley), an intense, quiet individual who may have more to do with these serial killers than anyone might have imagined.

Aaron Eckhart is awful here. This is an absolute shame, because I'm a big fan of this actor, particularly his work with Neil LaBute (see In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors and Possession). He just never finds his footing in Suspect Zero. His turn is both unconvincing and incredibly labored. At one point in the film, he attempts a sort of "killer profile" (think William Petersen in Manhunter). As he paces back and forth in front of a wall covered with photos of serial killer victims, he clutches his forehead in pain as he struggles to find answers pertaining to a case. The sequence is completely forced, and Eckhart does nothing to sell this would-be important scene.

Ben Kinglsley fares much better as a man battling horrific visions from a rough past but sadly, his limited scenes with Eckhart don't generate the sparks that are needed to make their ostensible common bond appear real. Carrie-Anne Moss is completely dull as Fran Kulok, Mackelway's partner. Their little romance comes seemingly out of left field, and again they manage to create Zero chemistry. In the end, Moss has very little to do.

Suspect Zero was directed with a gloomy tone by E. Elias Merhige. There is virtually nothing light here. In fact, I don't recall a single moment of comic relief which is fine I guess, but coming from the director of the creative (and sometimes wickedly funny) Shadow of the Vampire, I thought there might be a little light at the end of the tunnel. Hell, even Seven and Silence of the Lambs had some humor. If Suspect Zero had gone anywhere interesting, I probably could have forgiven it for this, but alas, it's just another element (or lack thereof) that bothered me.

This isn't to say that Suspect Zero is a total waste. There were certainly things about it that I liked; One of the serial killers who's unsuspectingly in danger of losing his own life, is never actually seen. His presence is felt through images of the giant rig he drives, but we are never actually introduced to him per se. And what becomes of him is rather surprising. I also liked a scene in which O'Ryan is pulled over by a highway patrolman. This is, perhaps, the only scene in the entire film that provides any sort of genuine tension.

The climax of the picture is fairly predictable and I can't say that I bought into it. But still, I give the movie props for not taking the conventional way out. Overall, Suspect Zero is pretty dull. I recently wrote that I was somewhat letdown by the upcoming Saw, but with it's various flaws, it's more entertaining than this film. At the very least, it made me jump a couple of times, and there was something gleefully perverse about the fashion in which the killer in that movie offs his victims. No such luck here.

This film isn't creepy enough to be a horror flick, and it doesn't have enough character to be a crime-drama. What we're left with is just slightly more than the title would suggest.