In an absurd, mindless and macabre serial killer thriller set in Europe, Samuel L. Jackson leads a respectable cast off a cliff. Damaged stretches credibility from the beginning and then proceeds to drop IQ points with every frame that passes by. The American detective helping Scottish police catch a Satanic murderer plot seems simple but has many critical flaws. The biggest problem, which is also central to the supposed mystery of the story, is how competent are these guys as investigators anyways? Another melodramatic subplot further muddies these dreadful waters — where would all those psychotic murderers run loose like rabbits if they had this lot on their case?
Damaged opens in Edinburgh, Scotland with a young woman (Nicolette McKeown) leaving her synagogue after worship when she doesn’t see the mysterious figure in a raincoat following from behind at some distance. The cloaked person knocks on her door with malicious intent; she foolishly opens it to be stabbed repeatedly and rapidly by him until he takes out his hacksaw from his bag for more gruesome work.
In Chicago, Dan Lawson (Jackson), an intoxicated detective stumbles into a crime scene where he quickly realizes what has happened even though he’s drunk and continues drinking in his car till fate knocks on its window — he gets summoned immediately by Scottish authorities because there’s been savage murder and dismemberment of woman whose body was arranged like satanic cross which eerily resembles five-year old pattern of killing five different women in chicago that lawson never caught their killer leading to retirement former partner walter bravo (Vincent Cassel) descent alcoholism.
Meanwhile, DCI Glen Boyd (Gianni Capaldi) has been assigned this case while dealing with personal issues following death of his son whose mother Marie (Laura Haddock) still hasn’t gotten over it — hoping one best officers can pull themselves together enough just once more time so solve it before ultimately also losing faith on humanity entirely; she tells superior officer Laura Kessler (Kate Dickie) how much she still believes him and will always hope against all odds that he succeeds where others have failed before but deep down inside she knows better. Boyd collects Lawson from their bloody crime scene which they revisit after Scottish detectives miss certain details about it that were different from what happened in Chicago according to lawson’s observation who realizes there must be other victims coming soon so decides to bring out Bravo of retirement.
Jackson’s turn as Lawson is just as puzzling. No way in hell would a drunken detective be allowed on duty or within arms’ reach of such a high-profile investigation. His smell of whiskey should have automatically had Boyd and Kessler challenging his expertise, not assuming that his experience with same murders will shed light on their killer. They never ask why he failed to solve them. Cinematic laziness glosses over important details that Boyd and Kessler should’ve had problems with Lawson’s demeanor.
Lawson calls in the cavalry only for it to be futile. Cassel’s Bravo pops up like a groundhog, randomly—dude is somehow never with Lawson and Boyd investigating other killings, but then when we do get scenes of Boyd and Bravo together…Lawson is nowhere to be found? Aren’t they all supposed to be working together? Something’s off in Edinburgh, and it isn’t just the smell of dead bodies decomposing—the gang isn’t on the same page.
Damaged builds towards reveals that aren’t shocking; twists-and-gotcha moments that land with an epic thud. The film’s poor exposition broadcasts its intentions, which only makes its excruciating B-movie climax all the worse. It boggles the mind how such an esteemed cast (which also includes John Hannah in a critical supporting role!) could make such a bad film across the board. British TV director Terry McDonough (The Expanse, The Street), who has decades of experience under his belt, cannot figure out what went wrong here; there has to have been some kind of disconnect between script/producing/shooting/post-production–EVERYONE got paid but no one met expectations.
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