The Boston Strangler (Disney +): Keira Knightley does not save an agreed and thriller thriller

This Friday, March 17, the Disney+ streaming platform welcomes the film to its catalog The Boston Stranglerbased on the famous murderer and the series of crimes which took place in the 1960s.

A thriller led by the duo Keira Knightley / Carrie Coon, which promises to shed new light on the famous case of the “silk stocking murders”. So what is it worth The Boston Strangler ? Should we see the film available on Disney+? Here is our review, guaranteed without spoilers.

The film’s story

Loretta McLaughlin, Daily Reporter Record-American, seeks to establish a connection between the horrific murders of women committed in their homes for nearly a year in the Boston area. As the mysterious killer claims more and more victims, to the point of causing real psychosis in Boston, Loretta tries to continue her investigation alongside her colleague and confidante Jean Cole.

Our review of The Boston Strangler

Crime stories, investigations, serial killers and sordid news items have always fascinated crowds, and regularly produced great films: Zodiac, foxcatcher, Memories of Murder, The French Connection or Summer of Sam, to recite nobody else but them. Based on the famous case that rocked Boston and America, with the murder of 13 women from 1962 to 1964, The Boston Strangler has the ambition to include itself in this noble heritage. Unfortunately for him, the film never made it past Wikipedia page status on film.

The Boston Strangler announces however beautiful ambitions: neat production, worked atmosphere, engaging story… But this beautiful packaging is not enough to save a high-sounding plot, unable to make a fascinating true story bear fruit. The spectator ends up witnessing scenes of discussions and displays of programmatic facts, without shudder or thrill. And it’s a shame, as the cast is of high quality. If Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Carrie Coon (The Leftovers) do the job properly, the film is especially worth seeing for its supporting roles and its real “mouths”: Chris Cooper, David Dastmalchian, Rory Cochrane…

Directed by Matt Ruskin, known for the (other) adaptations of real events that are Crown Heights And Infiltrator (with Bryan Cranston), the film happily eyeing the side of the Zodiac (2007) by David Fincher, until repeating identical scenes. But is not the director of Seven And The Social Network Who wants, and each sequence unfortunately sinks into an overly repetitive pattern: introductory overall shot, shot/reverse shot, concluding overall shot. Rare visual ideas, especially during murders, come to revive our hopes from time to time, but without managing to get us out of our torpor. The chronology is also badly brought and approximate: the viewer struggles to feel the passage of time and years, yet so important, and the traces that this leaves on the lives of Loretta McLaughlin (Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon).

If he didn’t convince us, The Boston Strangler is far from the turnip and will obviously be able to satisfy enthusiasts of the genre and serial killers. He is thus clever enough to link his criminal history of the time to more contemporary issues, such as sexism and violence against women. As such, the best idea of ​​the film unfortunately comes at the end, much too late to catch up with an inconclusive general feeling.

Too wise, too conventional and sorely lacking in rhythm, The Boston Strangler falls short of its models and its subject matter, and ultimately delivers a lazy and uninspiring investigation. If its story, its cast and its slick production could satisfy the lenient spectators on a Sunday evening, we will nevertheless be disappointed to see such great potential wasted. A beautiful bottle certainly, but without intoxication. Damage.

The film The Boston Strangler is available from March 17 on Disney+.

• Watch the movie trailer:

What other thrillers to watch on Disney+?

Thriller fans have plenty to do on Disney+. Among the nuggets of the genre present on the streaming platform, we can note the excellent Already seen And State enemy by Tony Scott, the classic French Connection by William Friedkin or the recent No Exit.

Do you particularly like David Fincher’s films? That’s good: Disney + has the essentials fight club, Gone Girl And Alien 3 to its catalog.