Movie Review: 'Blue Caprice' -- 3 stars

Movies have long had an affinity for the minds of killers, offering pop-psychological explorations of where those who would murder went wrong. "Blue Caprice," about 2002 Beltway snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, mercifully resists easy analysis and convenient answers.

This isn't a movie about the forces that turned these men into serial murderers. Director Alexandre Moors and screenwriter Ronnie Porto understand that this isn't a journey to be oversimplified or taken lightly. So they opt for an existential approach in telling the story of Muhammad (Isaiah Washington) and his teenage protégé Malvo (Richmond), who met in Antigua and embarked on their terrifying killing spree a short time later.

The characters are sure and meticulous in their actions, painstakingly removing the backseat into the trunk of the 1990 Chevrolet Caprice, studying a sniper instruction manual, firing their weapons in practice. The actors bring a scary conviction to the parts.

A chorale accompanies their car, an instrument of death, as we watch it careens down the highway, carrying crusaders on a horrific crusade.

"Blue Caprice" is a tough sell, of course. There isn't any sort of catharsis. The forces of good don't simply appear. But if we look to the movies as a conduit for the entire range of the human experience, from its highest highs to its lowest lows, there's no denying that this film tells an important story with the utmost skill.