Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

Don't Believe the Hype

Beautiful, moving film.

The film opens with an automobile wedged in a tree. I haven't seen anything like this since my company stopped supplying me with rental cars. (Rental cars are magic. They can do anything.) We soon find out that Steven Grlscz (sic) is a vampire who courts women then kills them. He can taste emotion in their blood and keeps a log book. The film takes place in the non-metric part of England that measures speed in miles per hour instead of kilometers per hour.Steven becomes intrigued by Annie Labels (Elina Löwensohn), an engineer with a French accent and B positive blood. About the same time the police (Timothy Spall who would later become a rodent in those Potter films) also becomes interested in Steven who has lost two girlfriends in the last few months.The film was also released under a different title, "Immortality." It is an interesting and different vampire film. The character of Steven was intentionally dead pan for much of the movie which weighed the film down in a number of scenes.I would of liked to have seen Steven's character more developed through dead girlfriends instead of just the one we get to see. Worth a peek if you like vampire films. It is currently available on a multi-pack called "8 Horror Classics" which includes "Dracula 2000" and "Dawn to Dusk" both of which should be in any horror collections.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Elina Löwensohn)

This movie has been out for a long time, and nothing I can say in a review is going to have much of an effect on who might see it, if anyone will indeed see it anytime soon. But, just in case you are undecided, if you have just run across it and only have x hours and x minutes for a movie, then please go watch it. It is very, very good.OK, I already contradicted myself.A great deal is said these days about the derivative nature of some films, as if a bit of an homage to great cinema automatically relegates a movie to less than average status. I think that sort of thing is unfair. In fact, I think it is OK if something I see reminds me of something I liked before. I still like the effect, and maybe more.In fact, so many now sit back, throw darts, and identify contemporary work as derivative that their silly conformist critiques are pretty...you guessed it, derivative! You are thinking 'ok, maybe but...what about this movie' So, imagine cinematography from Hitchcock in America, soundtrack by middle period Bernard Hermann, Jude Law before he became a boring caricature of Brits (Dr. Watson), a vampire script unlike any you have run across before and an intriguing non-blonde that Hitch would never have employed in Elina Löwensohn and you have this movie in a nutshell.Of course, like almost every other vampire movie it ends sadly. If you are into vampire sad endings, well then here you go.If you like a good drama about a vampire with crisp dialogue and unusual characters, with a minimum of blood and slashing, then here is a movie for you. If you like your vamps otherwise then steer clear.Better yet, if you enjoyed Byzantium as I did (to a guilty extreme I must admit) then see this movie and you will be quite happy indeed. What happened to Jude, he seemed on such a roll especially after picking off Nazis in Stalingrad.Maybe he just bled out? Probably.

A "vampire", Steven Grlscz(Jude Law), chooses female victims for their "emotional" blood hoping that the perfect mate who'll love him perfectly, will indeed "cure" him of his illness. We see a victim in the early going he selects who was about to throw herself in front of a subway train. He offers kindness to her for she probably could've used it. But, his befriending her in a sense is a way of gaining her trust until she completely gives herself over emotionally(..through complete love hopefully), but as often as it has been, this person wasn't. He feels certain emotions in his chosen victims, whether it's disappointment or despair, each person has that strong emotion which carries freely through the blood. He must feed on blood to remain alive and when he disposes of the body in a quick-sanded marshland, it is unfortunately discovered by fisherman using illegal netting. He has to contact the police to inform them of his previous relationship with the dead woman so that his guilt won't be so glaring. So for a time, two detectives follow him suspecting him as the murderer. Meanwhile, Steven meets structural engineer named Anne(Elina Löwensohn)and they soon begin a growing relationship where he begins to feel is true love. Will Anne be able to save him? How will she react if Anne discovers who Steven really is? And, will Steven be able to elude the police from suspecting him? All these questions will get answered as Steven must eventually feed or die in the process. Something also touched on is that Anne notices how Steven studies people. One of the detectives, Healy(Timothy Spall)notices that Steven copied a finger gesture in how he puts out the tip of his cigarettes. We later find that besides blood, Steven must also keep himself alive by constantly studying the human condition.Fascinating study on a person whose illness is really never completely elaborated on. That might very well frustrate some viewers wanting an answer, but what if there isn't one? In a sense he is a vampire because he must survive by feeding on blood. But, his life is anything but flamboyant. There are improbabilities such as how Steven seems able to elude his crime against the victim at the beginning of the movie. The film provides us with a gang so that we can see how fast Syteven moves proving to us that he is beyond merely a mortal, but something much different. The love of the film is tested with Steven's condition which makes for an interesting drama particularly Anne's reaction once she finds out.

At its heart, The Wisdom of Crocodiles alludes to being cross between a story about someone in mental torment and a modern-day vampire movie. The Jude Law character - the story's villain - comes across as a convincingly menacing and cunning master of his own destiny and of other peoples' destinies too. However, the main driving impetus in his life is either haemophilia, apnea or asthma - a medical problem that the movie fails to clarify.Jude Law is a man driven to consume other people's "emotions" by gorging himself on their blood in a gruesome Dracula-like fashion and the question nags as to when the killer will strike again. When he meets an attractive foreigner who engages in a fateful relationship with him, we expect the inevitable. Jude struggles with the reality of who he is and the genuine affection he feels for his latest victim until he resolves to act out his bloodthirsty course.In the final act, we see him weave an elaborate web to deceive the victim to her death by appealing to her sympathy. It is a part of the movie where the villain becomes truly vampiric in behaviour and motive.The movie has several flaws, which can't be covered by the excellence of the acting. First is the cryptic title, which confuses rather than informs. Secondly, a tangle of unclear plot-threads knot into perplexing scenes throughout the movie.It's as if the producer can't decide whether to make this a vampire movie, a romance, a thriller, a detective story or a story about someone in mental anguish. I get the feeling that if Leong had chosen one throughline and played to its strengths he might've produced a strong movie. Instead its a story that never makes up its mind what its main thread is and so leaves an unsatisfying series of questions.The result is that, in the confusion, Leong never gets the chance to tell us anything about the villain's condition or even why he's got it, and we never learn the reasons that motivate Law in his choice of victims.Not the best movie I've seen, though not the worst either. Jude Law lives up to his reputation by pulling off a convincing portrayal of a very disturbed man. Timothy Spall provides a strong supporting role as the dogged detective.