Anthony Hopkins and Colin Farrell Play a Psychic Game of Cat and Mouse in ‘Solace’

Aryeh Harris-Shapiro

In an awards season filled with heavier fare, her comes a little a bit of pulp. “Solace,” a serial-killer thriller with a psychic edge, may seem out of place in a stacked December filled with Oscar contenders, but here’s some popcorn entertainment for those who aren’t in the mood for serious stuff.

“Solace” stars Anthony Hopkins as John Clancy, a maybe-psychic doctor enlisted to solve difficult cases. He’s brought in to catch a serial killer played by Colin Farrell, a fellow psychic who murders terminally ill patients. Clancy is at first reluctant to join the fray, as he’s shut himself off from the world following a personal tragedy that led to the end of his marriage, but decides to take the case when presented with a convincing rationale – evidence of the demise of one of the film’s characters.

The film is the first English-language feature by Brazilian director Afonso Poyart (“Two Rabbits”), whose eclectic visual sensibility pairs well with a premise that sits right on the line between corny and clever. The script comes courtesy of Sean Bailey and Ted Griffin. With a strong cast that features Abbie Cornish andJeffrey Dean Morgan as FBI agents working alongside Clancy, here are the makings of a strong genre thriller that could perform very well on an uncontested weekend in January or February. He quickly realizes that the killer has him outmatched.

Unfortunately, Lionsgate Premiere’s decision to open the film opposite “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” doesn’t speak to confidence on the part of the distributor. In fact, the film’s whole release has been troubled. The movie was shot in 2013, then proceeded to sit on the shelf before premiering abroad in 2015. After a long delay, the film was set to open domestically on Sept. 2 before its distributor, Relativity Media, declared bankruptcy. None of these setbacks are the fault of the film itself, but its inauspicious release date and lack of press forecast a film that doesn’t live up to the high-concept insanity it promises.

“Solace” opens in limited release on Dec. 16