Mr Brooks is a film about a divided man that leaves you feeling somewhat divided. As you sit and watch it, the thinking you says, “This is preposter-ous!” To which the pleasure-loving you replies, “Shut up! I’m enjoying this.” Directed and co-written by Bruce A Evans (co-writer of Stand by Me), this is a character-driven thriller that gets hold of you and won’t let go. Actually, it’s a divided-character-driven thriller.

Mr Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a respectable businessman, a good husband and a loving father to his daughter. Then there is the other Mr Brooks, the man who says he is addicted to murder. For the past two years, he has controlled his addiction. When we meet him, his old longing has returned and he prays fervently for the strength to resist. Leading him into temptation is his alter ego, Marshall (William Hurt). Brooks can see and talk to him, but nobody else can.

During their latest murder, the usually meticulous Brooks makes a mistake and is photographed by a voyeur, Mr Smith (Dane Cook), who lives across the street. Instead of blackmailing him for money, Smith wants to watch Brooks’s next murder. This is one of those psychological thrillers that is devoid of psychology or real understanding of its protagonist. It merely presents him as a good man fighting an addiction. We never know why he kills or what turns him on; there’s a hint of sexual gratification, but it remains opaque.

Never mind. Evans has produced a taut thriller that has fine performances from Hurt and Costner. Marshall is that voice in all our heads, that slimy snake of the self that offers you a bite of the forbidden apple – or the act of murder. “You know you want to do this . . . you deserve a treat,” he tells Mr Brooks.

We haven’t seen Costner give such a fine performance in a long while. It’s a convincing portrait of a man torn apart by self-disgust for the thing he has become. But Evans and Costner even manage to get you to like Brooks. By day, he may be the super-square businessman who makes boxes; come the night, he is the smart, supercool killer.

And don’t forget Demi Moore as Detective Tracy Atwood, who is trying to capture Brooks. These days, watching Moore act, all you can think is: ‘Wow, look at all that plastic surgery!’ But don’t let that put you off. Just tell yourself to shut up and enjoy.

18, 120 mins

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