I’m not sure movie was designed to be ‘liked’ in a traditional sense. In case you’ve never heard of the titular character, Ted Bundy, he was one of the most notorious serial killers in modern day history. In fact, as the end credits state, the term 'serial killer' was first used to describe Bundy's crimes. So, seeing as, even today, most of his crimes will only be known to him, this film gives us a reasonable idea of what he was like. And it’s safe to say that he wasn’t very nice.
I haven’t looked into his life well enough to say how accurate the facts are, but, from what I’ve gathered, this is a pretty good representation of how he acted. It’s near impossible for any viewer to feel any sympathy for him; if the film has any sort of appeals it’s because it’s more like a car crash where you just can’t seem to look away. Bundy meets women. He’s amazingly charming then he kills them. If anything, it serves as a severe reminder to be more than a little weary about people you have only just met (and don’t go anywhere alone with them!).
I have seen a couple other movies made about Ted Bundy’s life and I would say that this one is the best. The others do touch on different aspects of his life, i.e. his dabbling with local politics etc. However, although this one almost completely omits the political aspect of his life (besides a brief mention that he's a 'Republican'), I do feel this is the best one overall.
Recently, the (highly-bankable) Zac Efron starred in a Netflix movie about the killer and got a lot of credit for that. Because most people will be drawn to that, I think that 'Bundy' here may end up being forgotten. And that's a shame, because Michael Reilly Burke really does nail the sense of insanity his character must have lived with. Just because this movie isn't always 'factually accurate' doesn't make his portrayal any the less terrifying. As I say, the film itself doesn’t really contain any ‘big names’ you’ll recognise and does have a kind of ‘made-for-TV’ feel about it. But, if you’re looking for a half-decent biopic movie about Bundy’s life, then you can do worse. Burke really does seem to effortlessly slip between charming and murderous in the blink of an eye and therefore shows us that the real man he's playing is as sick as they come, both in his mind and his actions.
Like I say... you won’t really ‘like’ this film as there’s really little to like about the entire of the subject matter. However, if you’re looking for at least a little insight into the minds of one of the nastiest men in modern times, then you’ll find more than you want to know here.
7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that
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