Like Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner makes a comeback the year. But unlike Bruce and Sylvester, he doesn't try to recapture the glory of his youth as an ageing action hero. Instead he takes on the dark role of a professional serial killer. And it works for him.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the vehicle of his success — 'Mr Brooks' — which is dragged down by convoluted and unrealistic plot twists and an extraordinarily lame ending.

Mr Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a successful businessman. His box-making empire is thriving and he has just been named Portland's Man of the Year. He has a loving wife Emma (Marg Helenberger) and is devoted, if a little indulgent, towards his college-aged daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker).

But beneath this 'perfect life' exterior lurks Marshall (a fabulous William Hurt), his psychopathic alter-ego and a secret life of carefully planned murders. Earl/Marshall's penchant for killing people is portrayed as an addiction. Although he wants to be an upstanding citizen — he attends AA meetings where he describes himself as an addict — Earl, egged on by Marshall, can't resist the 'hunger'.

Verging on obsessive-compulsive in his planning and execution of the murders, Mr Brooks has made sure never to leave any trace of his presence behind, that is until — in a brief lapse in a two-year period of abstinence — he kills a couple with the curtains to their bedroom open. Notorious for having sex with the curtains open, the couple has a following of peeping Toms in the building across the road and one of them, Mr Smith, just happens to have caught Mr Brooks on film.

Surprisingly though, Mr Smith (Dane Cook) does not go to the police. Instead he blackmails Mr Brooks into showing him the killing ropes.

The plot is further complicated by a determined cop, Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), who is intent on finally catching the Thumbprint Killer (Mr Brooks); another serial killer, The Hangman, who is intent on killing Detective Atwood; and Mr Brook’s pregnant daughter who seems intent on inheriting the family business.

The banter between Earl and Marshall is enthralling and had director/writer Bruce A. Evans (with co-writer Raynold Gideon) followed this thread they could have made a gripping and darkly funny film. The notion of a killing gene is also fascinating, but is largely overlooked in the frenzy of subplots and forced co-incidences.

Worth seeing for the Costner/Hurt chemistry, but for a slightly better film, turn it off five minutes before the end...