Stylish direction juices thriller

‘Suspect Zero” is as well-made as anything with its far-fetched plot could hope to be. It raises some satisfying gooseflesh.

The setting is New Mexico, although the real setting is the serial-killer genre of “Seven” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” In the spellbinding opening sequence, a traveling salesman is approached in an empty diner by a maniac (Ben Kingsley).

Since it’s Ben Kingsley, we figure this character will have significance in the story to come. But we shift our attention to Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart), an FBI agent newly re-assigned to Albuquerque. He’s messed up something in the past, and Albuquerque is punishment. “Welcome to the minor leagues,” is one colleague’s greeting.

But a major-league case is following Mackelway around. Bodies begin turning up, and the FBI sends out a special-guest-star agent (Carrie-Anne Moss) to assist. She just happens to be formerly involved with Mackelway, and knows all about his past problems.

From there the plot gets tangled up, as the killer has his own interesting reasons for the crimes. And Ben Kingsley, who’s turned up his fire-breathing “Sexy Beast” character to an eleven here, is up for every ounce of madness.

The coming-attractions trailer gives away a whopping plot point that isn’t revealed until over an hour into the picture. If you like this kind of grisly thriller, try to see it without finding out too much. Which means I can’t talk about what is far-fetched in the script. It gives “Suspect Zero” a touch of the supernatural to go with its police procedural format.

The film is considerably juiced up by the direction of E. Elias Merhige, a young director best known for “Shadow of the Vampire,” that oddball comic-historical glance at the making of the classic “Nosferatu.”

Merhige has atmosphere to burn, and he gets a crisp momentum from scene to scene. There are a few stunning sequences, such as a montage of children in different places, evidently in peril, punctuated by shots of the tormented Kingsley and a marching band on a field beneath a gathering storm. Arresting stuff.

“Matrix” neo-girl Carrie-Anne Moss is her usual classy, handsome self. Somehow Aaron Eckhart, the capable actor who played the boyfriend in “Erin Brockovich” and the monster in “In the Company of Men,” hasn’t quite mastered the art of leading-man-hood yet. But he suffers believably.

Does it all add up? Probably not. But there’s enough directorial flourish to make this a good (i.e., unsavory) installment for genre fans.