百年50部英文烧脑电影赏析:[25]Mr. Brooks 布鲁克斯先生

Earl Brooks(Kevin Costner)is a wealthy, successful businessman recently honored by the Portland, Oregon Chamber of Commerce as “Man of the Year”, In his secret life, Brooks is a serial killer, known as the “Thumbprint Killer”. Brooks has abstained from murder for the past two years by attending meetings for addicts to cope with his killing addiction. He feels the compulsion to kill rising again, however, as his id, Marshall(William Hurt)becomes more insistent. Brooks kills a couple while they are having sex in their apartment and, as part of his pathology, leaves each of the victims' bloody thumbprints on a lampshade. Brooks follows his meticulous modus operandi, including fastidious preparation and cleaning up the crime scene before departing. Marshall then notices that the couple's curtains were open.

Brooks' daughter Jane Brooks(Danielle Panabaker)unexpectedly arrives home, having dropped out of college in Palo Alto, California. She visits Brooks at work and mentions that she would like to get a job with his company. The same day, “Mr. Smith”(Dane Cook)turns up at Brooks' work and blackmails him with photographs of Brooks(taken because of the open curtains)at the most recent murder. He demands that Brooks take him along on a murder; reluctantly, Brooks agrees. Mrs. Brooks(Emma Brooks, played by Marg Helgenberger)reveals that Jane dropped out of college because she is pregnant. The Brookses are then visited by detectives from Palo Alto who want to interview Jane about a hatchet murder committed in her former dorm building. Marshall and Brooks realize that Jane committed the murder and consider letting her go to jail to “save her” from becoming like them. Eventually, however, Brooks uses an alternate identity, flies to Palo Alto, and commits a similar murder to make it appear as if a serial killer is loose, thereby exonerating Jane.

Brooks decides that he no longer wants to kill, but knows that he cannot stop himself. Not wanting to be caught and shame his family, Brooks concocts a plan where he will write a note to his family claiming to be terminally ill, and leave, never to return, Brooks researches the background of the police officer chasing the Thumbprint Killer, Detective Tracy Atwood(Demi Moore), and discovers she's in the middle of a messy divorce from Jesse Vialo(Jason Lewis). Brooks decides that Vialo and his lawyer(Reiko Aylesworth)will be Smith's first “victims” At the scene of the Vialo murder, Smith urinates in a fit of panic, leaving his DNA for the police to discover later, While driving away from the scene, Smith pulls a gun on Brooks, which Brooks and Marshall had predicted would happen. Brooks explains his plan to Smith, who agrees to kill Brooks. Brooks takes Smith to a cemetery he owns, and explains that they will find an open grave; Smith will shoot Brooks and then cover him with just enough dirt to mask the body. The next day, a casket will be lowered into the grave and covered, and Brooks' body will never be discovered.

Smith attempts to shoot Brooks, but Brooks reveals that, at some point prior, he had broken into Smith's apartment and bent the firing pin on Smith's pistol, rendering it inoperable on the off-chance that Brooks would change his mind. Brooks' brush with death makes him realize he wants to see his grandchild, and he turns on his would-be murderer, slitting Smith's throat with a shovel. As Smith lies dying, Brooks reveals that he used many different MO's before becoming the Thumbprint Killer. With Smith's urine providing the only DNA evidence of the Thumbprint Killer at a murder scene, Brooks will remain undetected.

Mr. Smith is named as the Thumbprint Killer and Brooks returns to his normal life. Knowing he is in the clear, Brooks calls Detective Atwood, whom he has come to admire, to ask her why she is a police officer. She replies that her wealthy father had wanted a boy, and she wanted to succeed in spite of him. Atwood is unable to trace the call before Brooks hangs up, but she realizes that the Thumbprint Killer is still at large. That night Brooks has a nightmare in which Jane kills him, suggesting that he fears Jane will become like him.

厄尔·布鲁克斯(凯文·科斯特纳饰)是一个富裕成功的商人，最近刚荣获波特兰俄勒冈州商会的“年度人物”。在他的秘密生活里，布鲁克斯是个连环杀手，称为“拇指纹杀手”。过去两年中布鲁克斯已不再杀人，因为他参加了应对杀人成瘾的会议。然而，他最近感到杀人的冲动再次上升，因为他的马歇尔(威廉·赫特饰)身份变得更加显著。布鲁克斯杀了一对在他们的公寓里做爱的夫妇。由于他的病态，他把每个受害者带血的拇指纹印在了灯罩上。接下来布鲁克斯用他极其细致的手法，在离开之前，做了极其讲究的准备工作并清理了犯罪现场。随后，马歇尔才看到房间的窗帘是拉开的。

布鲁克斯的女儿简·布鲁克斯(丹尼尔·帕娜贝克饰)意外地从加州的帕洛阿尔托大学綴学回家。她去看望正在工作的布鲁克斯，提起她想去他的公司谋份差事。就在同一天，史密斯先生(戴恩·库克饰)出现在布鲁克斯的办公地点，用布鲁克斯最近谋杀的照片敲诈他(因为窗帘是拉开的所以拍摄到的)。他要求布鲁克斯谋杀时带上他。布鲁克斯不情愿地答应了。布鲁克斯夫人(艾玛·布鲁克斯，玛格·海根柏格饰)透露简辍学是因为怀孕了。之后来自帕洛阿尔托的侦探来访问布鲁克斯，他们想调查发生在简以前宿舍楼的斧头谋杀案。马歇尔和布鲁克斯意识到，简犯有谋杀罪，考虑让她进监狱，挽救她，以免她变成他们那样。但最后，布鲁克斯使用备用身份，飞到帕洛阿尔托，制造了一起类似的谋杀，使它看上去像是系列谋杀案，从而使简免于处罚。

布鲁克斯决定不再杀人，但知道他无法阻止自己。他不想被逮住，让他的家人蒙羞。布鲁克斯编造了一个计划，他将给他的家人写个条子，声称自己病入膏肓，然后离开，永远不再回来。布鲁克斯开始研究追查拇指纹杀手的警探特蕾西·阿特伍德(黛米·摩尔饰)的背景，发现她正处于和杰西·费埃罗(杰森·刘易斯饰)离婚的混乱之中。布鲁克斯决定让费埃罗和他的律师(蕾可·艾尔丝沃斯饰)成为史密斯的第一批“受害者”。在费埃罗的谋杀现场，史密斯恐慌中尿了裤子，使警方发现了他的DNA。驾车离开现场时，史密斯拿枪指着布鲁克斯。布鲁克斯和马歇尔已经有所预料。布鲁克斯向史密斯解释了他的计划，史密斯同意杀了布鲁克斯。布鲁克斯把史密斯带到了他的墓地，并说明他们会找到一个打开的墓穴。史密斯向布鲁克斯开枪，然后用足够的泥土掩盖他的身体。第二天，灵柩将会降入坟墓并被覆盖，布鲁克斯的尸体永远不会被发现。

史密斯试图向布鲁克斯开枪，但布鲁克斯透露，在之前的某个时候，他闯进了史密斯的公寓，弄弯了史密斯手枪的撞针，使枪不好用以防止他万一改变主意。布鲁克斯和死亡的擦肩而过让他意识到，他想见他的孙子，他转向想要谋杀他的史密斯，用铲子切开了他的喉咙。在史密斯垂死挣扎时，布鲁克斯透露，在成为拇指纹杀手之前，他有过许多不同的身份。史密斯的尿液提供了拇指纹杀手谋杀现场的唯一的DNA证据，因此布鲁克斯不会被发现。

史密斯先生被定为拇指纹杀手，布鲁克斯回到他的正常生活。知道他现在是清白的，布鲁克斯给她倾慕的侦探阿特伍德打电话，问她为什么当警察。她回答说，她富有的爸爸想要个男孩，她想成功，尽管她不是男孩。在布鲁克斯挂掉电话之前，阿特伍德无法追踪电话，她意识到拇指纹凶手仍然在逃。那天晚上，布鲁克斯做了一个恶梦，简杀了他，表明他害怕简会变得像他那样。

Kevin Costner Interviewed by Chad Michaels

What made you want to take on this kind of dark role?

The decision was pretty simple. The movie, I thought, was the star. I thought the writing was the star of the movie, and I thought that while I didn't see myself like that person, I thought I could do this, you know? And so when I make up my mind, first and foremost, is it a movie...Because even though you have to professionally cover movies, I'm sure that deep down you do love movies, and probably love movies when they surprise you. And I think that this movie kind of, on paper, I thought it had all those moments. If we embraced them and went for them, I understood that it would be seen as a departure.(Laughs)I understood all the things that would come with it, but I still felt like, if I'm going to make a life of making movies, then I should try to make different kinds of movies. And this seemed to fit in a positive way.

Bruce Evans had only directed one film prior to Mr. Brooks. What did he do to convince you that visually he could accomplish this?

Well, I didn't look at his other movie. I didn't want to. Because once I committed to him as a director, I wanted to try to support him, and I didn't want to get panicked. I mean, I had heard different things. I didn't want to jade that. Once I gave him my word that he would get a chance to direct it, I wanted to back that up. But I wanted also to protect the movie by keeping final cut.

是什么让你承接了这种黑暗的角色?

这个决定相当简单。这部电影，我想，是明星。我认为这个剧本是电影中的明星，我想，我没看到自己像那个人，但是我以为我能做到这个。所以当我决定时，首先它是电影……因为即使你必须专业化地去涵盖电影，我相信在内心深处你是热爱电影的，当他们给你惊喜时你很可能会爱上他们。我觉得这部电影，在纸上，拥有所有那些时刻。如果我们拥抱它们，去寻求它们，我明白，它将被视为启程。(笑)我明白所有的事情会随之而来，但我仍然喜欢，如果我要拍电影谋生，那我应该尽量尝试不同类型的电影。积极的方式似乎更契合。

布鲁斯·埃文斯在《布鲁克斯先生》之前只执导过一部电影，他做了什么说服了你，认为他能完成这部片子?

嗯，我没看过他的其他影片。我没想过去特意看。因为一旦我认可了他当导演，我会尽力支持他，我不想变得恐慌。我是说，我听说过不同的事情。我不想因为这些而疲倦。一旦我向他做了保证，他就有机会执导它，我必须支持。但我也想保证电影最后的剪辑。

丹尼尔·帕娜贝克在影片中的角色是布鲁克斯先生的女儿简。

布鲁克斯先生和他的“分身”马歇尔，分别是由两位演员饰演的，正义的代表是凯文·科斯特纳，邪恶的代表则是威廉·赫特。