Grade: B-

Verdict: Angelina Jolie's best work since she won an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted."

If you're a fan of Michael Pye's novel "Taking Lives," fair warning: The movie version, starring Angelina Jolie, has been "Tuscan Sunned." That is, about all it has in common with its literary source is a title.

In fact, Jolie's character doesn't even exist in the book. But her expert FBI profiler, Illeana Scott, is so compelling, it's difficult to imagine what this solid genre movie would be like without her.

A serial killer who adopts the identities of his victims (hence the title) has turned up in Montreal. The police chief (Tcheky Karyo) asks Scott to help -- much to the chagrin of one of his men (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and the outright outrage of another ("Unfaithful's" Olivier Martinez).

Their best lead is an art dealer named James Costa (Ethan Hawke), who claims to have witnessed one of the murders. But can he be trusted? And isn't that Kiefer Sutherland lurking in various doorways? And what's going on with the murderer's mom (Gena Rowlands), who's obviously hiding something.

The movie has several good, albeit generic, scary scenes. And even at its most preposterous, "Taking Lives" never seems out and out stupid. Ultimately, it's less about guessing who the killer is than watching Jolie try to guess who he is. And the nifty ending has a swell gender-specific spin.

Director D.J. Caruso ("The Salton Sea") has a fine visual sense. He shoots the Toronto train station like itŐs a cathedral. A late-night diner is worthy of Hopper. Neon signs glimpsed through a rain-soaked windshield literally become primary-palette watercolors.

He's also made some shrewd casting moves. For example, most thriller-genre directors wouldn't bother to cast someone as powerful as Rowlands as the mother. They'd settle for a less respected, less expensive actress.

Jolie effortlessly displays the sort of sexy smarts Ashley Judd works so hard to achieve. She's introduced in profile, in a huge close-up that makes her lips and cheeks as formidable as the prow of the Titanic. Very much in command, the star gives Scott some of the same edgy self-confidence she displayed in her Oscar-winning performance in "Girl, Interrupted."

Life after an Oscar can be hard for actresses these days. Consider Halle Berry. After her brilliant work in "Monster's Ball," she's been doing Bond movies and comic-book characters like the upcoming "Catwoman." Jolie has had her less-than-classic roles as well -- the Lara Croft movies, "Gone in 60 Seconds." But she keeps looking for interesting parts, and "Taking Lives" shows us she's still game.