I'm a big sucker for 'true crime' movies...I'll admit it...as far back as Helter Skelter, I've always thought that true stories of strange crimes are always far more frightening than anything that can be made up. So, when D.C. Sniper crossed my desk, you can imagine my excitement. Well, I shouldn't have been as excited as I get, this movie isn't as great as it should be.

Directed by Ulli Lommel and written by Mr. Lommel and his star, Ken Foree, D.C. Sniper tells the story that unfolded back in 2002, when John Mohammad and Lee Malvo went on a killing spree across the D.C. area, sending the area into a panic and capturing the nation's attention. In this story, Foree plays John Mohammad, and Tory N. Thompson plays Lee Malvo...and they're the highlights of the film! Most of the movie tells us what possibly happened inside the car that Malvo and Mohammad spent their time while on their random killing spree. Foree captures the malevolence of Mohammad perfectly, part charming, part murderous and all psychotic, while Thompson is a wonderfully innocent Malvo. In fact, by the end of the movie, you actually feel sorry for the misled Malvo! The rest of the movie follows an FBI agent and a local detective who are 'on the trail' of the killers. These segments are a bit flat, Chris Kriesa plays Agent Rogan, a grizzled FBI agent who's torn between finding the sniper and finding his missing daughter (a plot thread that is very, very thin) and Lommel himself plays 'the cowboy' Detective Callahan. The scenes with the two cops seem to be there only to offer exposition and to break up what might be a long, long movie, if it was only following the two killers.

D.C. Sniper does capture what might have happened between Mohammad and Malvo quite well, and Foree and Thompson are perfect in their roles, they're the real reason to check out this movie. But, if you're looking for a 'what really happened' kind of movie, then you might look elsewhere, this is entertaining and captures that psychosis of the killers, but falls flat when it comes to the manhunt and the investigation of the crimes. I'm giving D.C. Sniper 2 out of 4 cigars, it's great for a hardcore fan, but isn't for the casual movie watcher. You can grab a copy for yourself by dropping over to the North American Motion Pictures web page.