Suspect Zero - 2004

Paramount Pictures, Intermedia Films, Lakeshore Entertainment

Directed by E. Elias Merhige

Cast:

• Tom Mackelway – Aaron Eckhart
• Benjamin O'Ryan – Ben Kingsley
• Fran Kulok – Carrie Ann Moss
• Rich Charleton – Harry Lennix
• Harold Speck – Kevin Chamberlin
• Raymond Starkey – Keith Campbell

Story: A serial killer is stalking and killing serial killers, and leaving clues for the FBI. Agent Tom Mackelway of the FBI has been transferred to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office after a lapse in judgment that caused a serial killer-rapist to be set free. On his first day in the new office, he receives the first of many faxes: page after page of missing persons - men, women, children. His supervisor, Agent in Charge Charleton, assigns him to a case with ominous beginning, a car is found on the state line of Arizona and New Mexico with a murdered man inside. The car was pushed exactly to the state line, intentionally placed there to attract the attention of the FBI. Agent Mackelway, along with his partner, Fran Kulok, must follow the clues that lead to a disturbing truth. A former FBI remote viewer is their suspect, and his talents include knowing what the FBI will do next.

Review: In the world of suspense and drama, there are all sorts of sub-genre. File this one under psychic possibilities. Aaron Eckhart is a troubled man, a disgraced agent who the agency has decided can keep his badge, as long as he accepts a post in a remote station, out of the spotlight. Beside the stigma of being an agent who lost control and violated a suspects rights, he has headaches. Constant, severe headaches. And they aren't getting better. His supervisor is used to seeing this kind of agent, he knows the drill, probably left in charge of this office from a past problem of his own.
I've read other reviews that seem to pan this film, and I have to agree it is not for everyone. The premise is unnerving, to say the least. And it is based to some extent in truth. There was a time when the U. S. government conducted experiments in Remote Viewing, a psychic phenomena where people with no prior knowledge of an area are tasked to report on things that are occurring in an enemy camp. The government has said this project was abandoned, since it proved to produce less than accurate results. But what of the remote viewers who were accurate? What happens to someone who is taught to look into the minds of serial killers and is never taught how to turn it off?
Ben Kingsley gives a haunting performance as Ben O'Ryan, a former remote viewer now turned serial killer. Aaron Eckhart is the disgraced agent, targeted by O'Ryan to replace him. It's a film worth watching once if you are a believer in psychic phenomena. Otherwise, you might want to look for something else.