Hangman (2017)

Directed by: Johnny Martin | 98 minutes | crime, thriller | Actors: Al Pacino, Karl Urban, Brittany Snow, Joe Anderson, Sarah Shahi, Sloane Warren, Chelle Ramos, Steve Coulter, Michael Rose, Katelyn Farrugia, Edgar Zanabria, Matt Mercurio, Dwayne Boyd, Scott Parks, Jermaine Rivers, Garrick Parks

An old, tired detective comes back from retirement to catch a serial killer. It is not a new concept, and that is reflected in ‘Hangman’. Almost every sentence the characters in the film say has already been said. Despite the complete lack of originality ‘Hangman’ manages to achieve its goal; make the viewer’s heart beat faster at the right moments.

How does director Johnny Martin manage this? By following some very well known paths is the short answer. Martin knows how to use some general techniques, such as shots where only the reaction is seen without the viewer seeing what the characters are looking at, building the tension. Martin also has access to a music score that perfectly reflects the tone. He also depends on this, because building tension is considerably easier with appropriate music.

Apart from providing suspense, however, ‘Hangman’ barely manages to offer anything. The characters are barely developed. The only moments when the characters have some depth come from monologues about their own past. These moments are then often put down awkwardly. Thus ends the monologue by journalist Christi (Brittany Snow), in which it finally becomes clear why she continues to follow the two detectives despite the direct story, with a bone-dry ‘okay’ from Archer (Al Pacino). Moments like these prevent the viewer from taking the characters seriously; it seems as if the makers didn’t do this either. The suspense of a detective story is fun, but the characters stick. In ‘Hangman’ they don’t manage to do this.

A good detective needs a satisfying ending. Even though the search for the perpetrator was set up so strangely, if everything comes together at the end, the film can still be positively assessed. Without giving away details of the story, it’s important to realize that ‘Hangman’ cannot provide this. For a moment it seems that Martin manages to end the film meaningfully, but unfortunately he did not succeed.

With a well-known concept, ‘Hangman’ could hardly surprise, and this has proven to be the case. Due to the lack of gripping characters, convincing dialogues and a decent ending, ‘Hangman’ is even a disappointment. Nevertheless, there is still fun to be had. For people who like detectives for the physical response to tension that comes with the genre, ‘Hangman’ is an easy movie where tension is definitely present. For the rest of the people, this movie falls in Al Pacino’s long list of disappointing movies.