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 owards the end of the Serial Killer movie "Code
11-14", and after the serial killer's identity has been revealed to the
audience, the killer radios leading man David James Elliot (who has since
figured out the killer's identity as well) and taunts him with this line,
"It sure took you a long time to figure it out." To which I chuckled
and thought, I second that!
David James Elliot (TV's "JAG") plays the
impossibly unobservant FBI agent Kurt Novak, who is chasing a serial
killer that preys on beautiful women in L.A. After a suspect is captured in
Australia, Novak flies over to the home of Crocodile Dundee with his neglected
wife Michelle (Terry Farrell) and son Johnny (Myles Jeffrey) in tow. After the
Australian police decide that they've caught their man, the Novaks return home,
only to discover that the real serial killer is onboard their plane and this
time he's targeting them!
The first thing that should occur to you it this:
"Wait a minute. An FBI agent chasing a serial killer decides that it's a
good idea to take his wife and child on the manhunt with him? No way!"
According to writers Kearns and Lafia, "Yes, way." Directed by Jean de
Segonzac, who painted a visually entertaining film with "Mimic
2", "Code 11-14" is surprisingly very plain. The movie offers
nothing by way of visual stimulation, and there's almost no action until a brief
fight between the Novaks (yes, that's right, all three of the Novaks) and the
serial killer at the very end. This ain't no "Air Force One", and
definitely nothing close to "Turbulence".
The screenplay for "Code 11-14" is the real
villain here. It's all the more irritating because the film really showed some
promise at around the halfway point, when the movie managed to surprise me with
its gradually developing suspense. Unfortunately it all falls short because I
knew who the real serial killer was the first time I saw him. It also
doesn't help that the film fails to provide any thoughtful red herrings for us
to suspect. In fact, I had to delete the name of the actor playing the serial
killer from the credit listing because it gives away the killer's identity.
The star of "Code 11-14" is David James Elliot,
whose FBI agent doesn't exactly give me faith in the observant powers of the
FBI. Nanci Chambers, the real-life Mrs. James Elliot, plays Novak's partner, who
helps Novak uncover the killer's identity from the ground. Terry Farrell has the
unenviable distinction of playing the worst mother in the history of movie moms.
On at least 4 occasions, and after having been informed by her FBI agent
husband that a serial killer is onboard their plane and is targeting them,
Farrell's motherly instinct-challenged mom leaves her son all alone. Gee,
I'm so shocked that the serial killer finally abducted the boy. Who would have
thunk it?
"Code 11-14" is not a very good movie. It lacks
logic on more than one occasion, and its story is as constricted as its plane
location. David James Elliot looks the part of an FBI agent, but his character
is so dense that one wonders how he ever passed the tests to become an agent in
the first place. The direction by Jean de Segonzac is strangely uninteresting
and a big letdown considering his previous work.
Also, for a movie about a serial killer on the loose,
"Code" has very little gore, blood, sex, or violence. Everything is
just so...TV-movie-of-the-week-ish.
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