Movie · 2023 · Thriller, Crime, Drama · 1h 59m · R · English
Curator score: 2.0/10 (157.8K ratings)
A city at the center of chaos. A detective with special skills. A madman testing her limits.
Overview
Baltimore. New Year's Eve. A talented but troubled police officer is recruited by the FBI's chief investigator to help profile and track down a mass murderer.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.0/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.17/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 54%
Metacritic: 43
TMDB: 6.9/10
Director
Damián Szifron
Production
FilmNation Entertainment, RainMaker Films
Cast
Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson, Richard Zeman, Dusan Dukic, Jason Cavalier, Nick Walker, Darcy Laurie, Mark Camacho, Frank Schorpion, Marcello Bezina, Dawn Lambing, Martyne Musau, Adam LeBlanc, Daniel Brochu, Sean Tucker, Maurizio Terrazzano, Arthur Holden, Alain Chanoine
Where to watch
Hulu
Curator Review
Verdict
A sleek, grim procedural with strong atmosphere and a capable lead performance, but it’s uneven in tone and occasionally feels like it’s reaching for deeper commentary than the script can fully support. The opening and the city-as-pressure-cooker setup are effective; the payoff is more solid than memorable.
Best for
viewers who like procedural thrillers with a bleak urban mood
fans of cat-and-mouse investigations and profiler stories
people who enjoy crime dramas with a political or social edge
audiences open to a somewhat uneven but stylish thriller
Skip if
you want a tightly written, consistently tense thriller
you’re sensitive to mass-shooting subject matter
you prefer clean tonal control over occasional awkward dialogue
you want a mystery with a highly original plot
Overview
To Catch a Killer is a competent, often engaging procedural that leans on atmosphere, performance, and a sense of civic dread more than on surprise. Damián Szifron stages Baltimore on New Year’s Eve as a city literally and morally upside down, and that visual idea gives the film its strongest identity.
Worth noting
Shailene Woodley carries the movie well, bringing grit and volatility to a character who could have felt generic in lesser hands. Ben Mendelsohn adds the kind of weathered authority that makes the investigation feel lived-in, even when the script slips into familiar beats or blunt dialogue.
Bottom line
What holds it back is inconsistency: the film wants to be a sharp critique of systems, media, and institutional rot, but it doesn’t always organize those ideas cleanly. Still, if you’re in the mood for a dark, Fincher-adjacent crime thriller with strong craft and a nasty edge, it’s an easy watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Mary Sun (4★) · 1445 likes
No les gusta a los Yankees porque tuvo que ir un argentino a criticarles su sistema del orto
ndc32002 (3.5★) · 960 likes
shailene woodley literally ate
blcbear (5★) · 954 likes
ok he's a criminal but also a vegan communist sooooo
manosmagic (5★) · 656 likes
No le va a gustar nunca a los yankees porque Szifron se les metió en el patio de la casa y les sacó todos los trapitos al sol. A veces con monólogos; a veces con diálogos; a veces con detalles o simetrías; a veces con la cámara misma. No se salva absolutamente nadie, ni siquiera nosotros como espectadores. Tacharla de "cliché" es, así como denuncia la película misma, pecar de miope, caer en esa necesidad de etiquetar y aislar todo… more No le va a gustar nunca a los yankees porque Szifron se les metió en el patio de la casa y les sacó todos los trapitos al sol. A veces con monólogos; a veces con diálogos; a veces con detalles o simetrías; a veces con la cámara misma. No se salva absolutamente nadie, ni siquiera nosotros como espectadores. Tacharla de "cliché" es, así como denuncia la película misma, pecar de miope, caer en esa necesidad de etiquetar y aislar todo… more