This American crime drama takes place over a week or so, as a detective investigates a string of murders staged around the hangman game with a fellow retired officer and a journalist.

 

Karl Urban plays a gritty detective who seems to be working with some inner demons, he has a journalist assigned to shadow him (Brittany Snow) who proves her worth finding important clues along the way. The pair team up with Al Pacino, a retired detective who just can’t seem to let go of the cop life.

 

We don’t spend too long getting caught up in each of the characters complicated pasts, instead we are trying to sort through clues and try to catch the killer before the next letter and victim are revealed.

 

The film feels like it’s taken great moments from other crime dramas with thematic killers and bundles all the quotes and overused moments together. Watching Hangman feels familiar, it doesn’t offer anything new or challenging.

 

Al Pacino is playing himself, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, he’s tired, and straight shooting. Urban and Snow also hold their own, despite some stilted dialogue.

 

It’s an easy film, with a few plot holes, the kind of movie you could watch on a rainy Sunday when there isn’t much else to do.