Review of Blue Caprice (2013) by Ray H — 06 Oct 2013

This is a marginally entertaining movie. It could have been much better. The story concerns the real event of the 2002 Washington DC area random shootings. The focus of the film is on the relationship between the 40-something master-mind and his 17 yr old protege.

Apparently, little is known about the real motivations and tactics of this pair of evil-doers. It sort of reminded me of the oft quoted phrase; the banality of evil. We often hear many people wanting to ascribe mental illness to evil acts. There is ample evidence that that circumstance does occur. However, history has also shown us the capacity for evil amongst many otherwise normal persons. There are chunks of humanity around the world who have little to no empathy for their fellow humans.

Also, we know that large numbers of criminals are not very intelligent or well educated. A good part of their motivation may lie in their simple-mindedness. Evil-doers often are not attached to, nor involved with, the larger society.

The recruiting of young Malvo (Tequan Richmond) presents very little back-story for him. It did not help me understand the transformation of normal teenager into amoral serial killer. He may have been a latent killer from the get-go. His trainer, John Muhammad (Isaiah Washington) is somewhat understandable as a distraught father who has lost access to his children. There is the small matter of a restraining order involved. Washington is a first-rate actor. He, unlike many other strong male leads, has the ability to convey depths of emotion with his facial expressions.

The real meat of the sniper events lay in the nationwide, and DC centered, terror generated in the local population. There was little attention paid to that. We hear some radio and TV accounts of the on-going situation. The actual mechanics of the shootings were also largely omitted. All we see are a number of shot people lying on the ground; and a few, just before that moment. Who were these hapless folks? Just how did the deadly duo go about selecting and carrying out their deadly attacks? This was also fertile ground for drama.

They were caught using standard, solid police work. Muhammad was convicted and executed in 2009. Malvo was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Maybe ... check this one out on DVD or streaming media.