When FBI agents are struggling to find and capture a serial killer, they seek help and assistance from John Clancy (Anthony Hopkins). 

John has hidden himself away in isolation for over 2 years since the passing of his daughter. John also posses an unusual ability: he is a Psychic.

After a short discussion, John agrees to work with the FBI and he begins to learn that there is actually more to this serial killer than anyone could have expected…

The interesting fact about Solace’s plot is this film was intended to be a sequel to the film Se7en with Morgan Freeman’s character taking the lead role. This was eventually scrapped (Thank God!). 

Solace is a pretty dull looking film which, as a bonus, includes some of the worst camera shots I have seen in a very long time. What should be a dialogue between two actors becomes incredibly painful to watch and hard to focus on because the cameraman goes around, around and around to the point where I yelled at my flat screen ‘ahhh be still!’ Other simple shots included actors sitting at the boardroom table and again it felt like someone did all the filming with a handheld camera. This filming takes away any seriousness that the director had hoped to achieve.

Solace’s plot on paper is a great idea expect for some minor details, but the bigger issue is that overall delivery to the big screen is rather disappointing. While John (Hopkins) has a clever gift, there are some things he can see and somethings that are beyond his control. This becomes a tad annoying. Certain situations will occur that you would expect he can predict but for whatever reason, he doesn’t or can’t.

John (Hopkins) also has strong points of view that are stressed throughout the film, but of course, things get ruined within the last 5 – 10 minutes of the story, making the audience feel like they have wasted their time following a character who contradicts his own point of view.

Overall, Solace does carry a clever story but with poor on-screen results. While Hopkins does carry some good one-liners with perfectly timed great delivery (as the man always does), anything else is simply a missed opportunity. What could have been a fantastic thriller instead feels like a B graded midday movie?

3.5/10

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Review Written by Peter Walkden