Eyes of Laura Mars

• Directed by Irvin Kershner
• August 2, 1978

A New York City fashion photographer finds herself suddenly with the ability to see through the killer’s eyes. Tommy Lee Jones has a unibrow?

I went into Eyes of Laura Mars blind. Other than having seen it sitting on the shelf of my local video rental store as a kid, I knew nothing beyond the title or the cover art. My only knowledge of the context of the film was that Faye Dunaway was in it. I wasn’t even aware Tommy Lee Jones played a part in the movie.

I need to say firstly I found it a bit predictable. Not unwatchable predictable, but I knew who the killer was the moment they came on the screen and weirdly there is no sinister dialogue or anything that hinted at them being the killer. It’s just something that’s been done 1000 times before or since. Maybe it was the structure of the film itself that played like one of those 80s detective shows that wasn’t much of a mystery with the entertainment value being figuring out how the detective learns the answer.

A two-hour 70s/80s TV theatrical appearance is not something that excites me when it contains brand new characters. You know the answer here from the start but this less seeing the clues that lead to the answer and more about watching the moment when the ‘hero’ gets handed the answer. Sprinkled amongst that are things anchored in the time or examples of random less than ideal people.

This has a look and grit that you could only find up until the 80s. It is an authenticity to what you’re seeing visually that is completely gone these days. The environment is as much of a character as the people present. Streets are dirty and generally the world looks lived in. I really miss that.

Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Dourif, René Auberjonois, and Raul Julia all star in this movie based on a story by John Carpenter who was not yet the icon he is today. His style is obvious even though this was directed by Irvin Krshner. It says Carpenter had a certain style from the start though what it says about Kirshner may be less positive.

Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) is a photographer who takes controversial pictures as art. Her dialogue and her reasoning on what she does seems like it was ripped out of the present day. No lie. That is not a positive. It feels very empty and superficial. Sometimes the more times change the more they stay the same. Dunaway was a fine actress but she seriously over acts as Mars. She chews up the scenery. I think that Oscar for Network went to her head.

Mars starts experiencing psychic visions of murders of people connected to her. New York detective Lieutenant John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones) with his very New York accent and very New York attitude begins investigating her and being very unprofessional begins a romance with her. Tommy Lee Jones’s acting is head and shoulders above most of the people in this movie, but his work is very generic for the time. That distracting unibrow aside, he would not stand out in a crowd among any number of better actors from the time period.

The romance between Neville and Mars is supposed to propel a major part of the story but where it began for either, I am at a loss. There needed to be some unintended tender moments or a scene or two where Neville goes a little above and beyond for Mars. I just never saw the moment. A sex scene is a lazy way to communicate love but we got that.

I felt like I was waiting for something more like a great moment or a shocking twist. None came. That moment of greatness for an intriguing thriller never materialized. The climax when Mars realizes it all is just muted. Possibly that is because of Dunaway’s hammy performance in the moment. I chuckled a bit because she looked like she was about to ugly cry on the phone to the cops.

Eyes of Laura Mars is watchable and you may even go back again, but it’s missing the thing that pulls it all together. Something just doesn’t click. Not a strong recommendation here if one at all.