Mr Brooks is a successful businessman and devoted husband and father. But unbeknownst to anyone else, he's also a prolific serial killer and one who is so good that he's never been caught. He's tried desperately to control his urges and the sardonic alter-ego he calls Marshall. But when he gives into temptation he's caught on film by a creepy peeping Tom. The next thing he knows, he's tangled up in the twisted agenda of the opportunistic bystander and they are both being hunted by tenacious detective Tracy Atwood. Can Mr Brooks keep his secret under wraps, or will he be exposed to his wife and daughter?

The murders themselves are clinically efficient but using the old horror equation of sudden + loud = scary, makes them feel cheap. The blurred, slow-motion instant replays of them, show how Mr Brooks remembers them for his own gratification, but makes it feel like the director doesn't trust his star enough to convey the emotions of the character. His use of blue tints and shadows for the killer's bad thoughts is intermittent, so doesn't feel like part of an overall style. The subplot involving the escape of a serial killer known as "The Hangman" plays out like a cheap, lurid action movie, complete with strobe-lit fire-fight and near-misses. It's a messy movie that requires sharper editing, more focus on building characters we care about and a coherent story.

The narrative is too predictable. The writers have added a few plot strands that should make it more interesting if they were properly thought out. But the various sub-narratives, like the reason Earl's daughter has dropped out of university and threats on Detective Atwood's life from an escaped murderer feel like padding to an otherwise slim story. The subplots don't mesh well with the main narrative and a couple of last minute twists do little but drag the running time out, so the movie is a flabby hundred-and-twenty minutes long. The dialogue lacks self-awareness and the ability to avoid cliché, so feels contrived.

As Marshall, William Hurt is by far the best thing in the movie. He's now in a phase of his career where he's clearly playing the characters he wants to and does so with gusto. In his hands, Marshall is a nasty, insidious creation who is by turns, sarcastic, belligerent and sardonic. But he's not entirely evil because he is the embodiment of Mr Brooks' conscience, so he almost redeems himself.

Ramin Djawadi's original music feels like a throwback to an 80s' horror movie because of his use of synthesizers. The film opens with electronic timpani, metallic percussion and echoing strings. There are various other electronic arrangements throughout including chiming melotron and drum machine passages that attempt to raise the levels of excitement and rising electronic strings and piano for an interrogation. These are juxtaposed with more traditional orchestral arrangements that are generally employed when Brooks is with his family. So there are twinkly pianos and warm strings aplenty to show his love for his wife and daughter. But it's too little, too late and the music simply isn't strong enough to set the nerves on edge or to add a much needed emotional layer to the movie.