There’s little question that Al Pacino is one of the great actors of our time. He’s given us legendary characters including Michael Corleone, Frank Serpico and Tony Montoya just to name a few. His loud, angry rants are some of the stuff of legend.

But in his last couple of outings, Pacino has shown a quieter more subdued side, and this side works well for him in “88 Minutes”, a fun little murder-mystery thriller.

Pacino stars as Dr. Jack Gramm, a renowned Seattle forensic psychiatrist. In 1997, Jack’s testimony was key to putting away Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), the infamous “Seattle Slayer” who viciously killed several women before being ID’d by the twin sister of one of his victims. We skip ahead nine years where Forster is on death row, set to be executed that day and Jack is continuing his job while teaching at the local university. One of Jack’s students is found murdered in the way that Forster killed his victims and while processing this, he gets a call from an unknown person telling him he has, you guessed it, 88 minutes to live.

Director Jon Avent quickly sets up a number of potential suspects ranging from Jack’s students (Leelee Sobieski and Benjamin McKenzie) to his teaching assistant, Kim Cummings (Alicia Witt), who happens to have a crush on Jack to the dean of the college, Carol Johnson (Deborah Kara Unger). People always seem to be looking at Jack and later trying to shoot him or run him down in the street.

To complicate matters, Jack’s friend, Special Agent Frank Parks (William Forsythe) uncovers evidence linking Jack to the murder.

It’s Pacino’s subdued performance that really carries the action here. Jack never seems to get really rattled by everything that's going on around him. Yes, he gets frustrated and raises his voice and looks concerned, but, perhaps being a psychiatrist, he never lets his emotions get the best of him. He even manages to mostly keep his cool while sparring with Forster on MSNBC about the case when Forster is granted a stay of execution.

The rest of the cast is solid as well. McDonough is a slimy villain as Jon Forster, even though he’s only seen mostly through his TV interview. Amy Brenneman has some nice moments as well as Jack’s longtime assistant.

Avent is smart not to try a real-time scenario with the 88 minutes. There is too much going on, too many phone calls, shootings and explosions to possibly have kept up with. Plus, you have to accept the fact that Seattle is apparently the size of a small Iowa town given how Jack is able to drive across town in seemingly a matter of minutes. It’s a small hang-up, but nothing serious.

The calmer, quieter Pacino proves to be just as likeable as the old loud, boisterous one. It’s the new Teddy Roosevelt version of speak softly and carry a big gun.

Three stars out of five

“88 Minutes” is 108 minutes long and is rated R for disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language.

Andy Paugh writes for the Ottumwa (Iowa) Courier. He can be reached at aspaugh@mchsi.com