The Skulls (2000)

(On TV, March 2020) True to form for a Hollywood thriller, The Skulls takes the kernel of a good premise (behind the scenes at an Ivy School secret fraternity, à la Yale Skull and Bones) and then takes it to a ludicrous level that, ironically enough, makes it quite forgettable. Our protagonist’s bland everyman qualities ensure that the character isn’t quite as interesting as the antagonist (Paul Walker, in a pre-Fast/Furious starring role). The rest of it seems to steal from low-octane conspiracy thriller tropes without necessarily putting the pilfered ideas together in an interesting whole. Fairly bland directing from Rob Cohen doesn’t help the film stick in mind, although I suppose that twenty years later The Skulls is taking on a time-capsule kind of newfound relevance in chronicling Hollywood’s idea of cool at the dawn of the century. Still, there’s a feeling that, despite a fun premise, a director capable of much better, some interesting young actors and good production values, The Skulls simply isn’t fun enough or smart enough or wild enough to stick. Although I suppose that a true-life exposé of Ivy League secret societies would be even duller to watch.