cmoyton Emmett's Mark is a decent attempt at a character driven thriller. Combining the dual stories of the search for a serial killer and a young detective facing up to the news of his terminal illness by deciding to hire a hit-man to end his own life. Of course there are plot contrivances but what i really liked about the movie most were the ambiguous characters played by Roth and Byrne. Byrne in particular does not have enough screen time but the interplay between these two established actors is a joy to behold. Having been goaded once too often Roth's character snaps. But not that you would recognise as he appears to be emotionally stone cold - that is until the very end of the movie.In places the script is as ambiguous as some of the characters with the director dangling the possibility that Roth may indeed also be the serial killer. Scott Wolf was just OK in the lead role of Emmett. The big anomaly also for this reviewer was just how and why Roths girlfriend informed on him - yes his flat was a mess and she saw that he was living a deception but i couldn't see the evidence linking him to Byrne in the pit he resided in. At one hour 40 minutes the movie is 10-15 minutes too long but still remains an interesting watch.

jbix909 Wow,Scott Wolf kept reminding me of Michael J Fox for some reason. He was OK, but made an intelligent if sort of wimpy detective. I think they should have played a little more towards his brilliance as a crime solver than they did. This movie was actually pretty good. With a few tweaks though it could have been great. You know the story from the other reviews here. The newly promoted detective finds out he's dying so he hires a hit man (Roth) to kill him. Meanwhile an exciting story that tracks a serial killer is in the background. It's pretty good, but as I said, it could have been really good with a couple tweaks in the script and the movie making. It perhaps would have been better with more closure than it had.I wish I had a quarter for every time a cop says "Don't Move, put your hands on your head and don't move". Then the perp runs off and escapes. I mean if you point a weapon at someone be prepared to shoot him, or at least fire some warning shots at him. The guy puts his hands up then runs, and what does the cop do? Nothing, and runs after him, only to lose him. I always wind up yelling c'mon stupid, shoot him, shoot him, but I guess the movie is more exciting for people when it's not realistic. Six stars out of ten.

keithla43 CONTAINS SPOILERS! Okay, all you people who know the director or work for the distributor, stop giving reviews. Because that's the only reason I can see for calling this film visionary.Someone here lauds the mystery. Mystery? What mystery? This is the first time I have ever seen a serial killer film in which you don't find out who did it, and it doesn't really matter anyway (and really, guys, the first thing I thought of when the body had something cut out of its skin wasn't "covering up bite marks," it was a tattoo)...The film is really about Emmett and his situation. Fair enough. But that means a good portion of the film is superfluous. Which means we wasted our time.Huh. I'm even bored giving a review of this film. Suffice it to say if I start reading car magazines and my husband starts playing games on his iPhone, the film has missed its mark.

senortuffy This is a very good movie by first time writer/director Keith Snyder about a Philadelphia homicide detective who hires a hit man to kill him because he thinks he's dying. The story plays against the background of a serial killer on the loose.Det. Emmett Young is told he has a week before he has to check himself into a hospital where he will surely die a painful death. While sitting in a restaurant having a cup of coffee and looking very depressed, a stranger approaches and tells the young detective that he was a cop once and things can't be all that bad. The two go and have a few drinks and Emmett tells him the truth, that he's going to die soon. Eventually the conversation gets around to what Emmett should do, and the man offers to find someone to kill him for $15,000, and after thinking it over, Emmett decides that's the best way to end it.The stranger isn't who he appears to be however. He isn't a retired FBI agent, he's a sleazy lawyer with a record for fraud, and he approaches an acquaintance to do the hit. The man is an ex-cop who killed a young detective once because he was jealous of losing a promotion to him - the sleazy lawyer got him off.About halfway through the film, Emmett learns there's been a mistake and he was given another patient's diagnosis - he only has a bad viral infection. Now the dilemma, how to find the guy who contracted his own hit and stop things from happening. I won't spoil the ending, but the plot takes a few twists and turns, and things don't turn out the way you think they will.The director scored a major coup by getting two excellent actors to play major roles in this movie. Gabriel Byrne plays the sleazy stranger who arranges the hit, and Tim Roth plays the ex-cop contracted to carry it out. Byrne is an underutilized actor who deserves more roles like this because he's very good. Tim Roth is the one who really stands out, however. He plays the dimwitted killer with dead eyes perfectly. The end scene when he finally confronts Emmett was excellent, and different.Scott Wolf plays Emmett Young, and though he looks more like a choir boy than a big city homicide detective, he handles the part well enough. The rest of the cast is unknowns but they carry the story along very well also.I never heard of this film when it came out last year, which is too bad because it's much better than a lot of the better known police dramas that got all the notice. Definitely a good one to rent and Keith Snyder is someone to watch in the future.