HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDEIt was murder just watching this film.
HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE
It was murder just watching this film.
Film Review © 2003 by Trip ReynoldsAction/Buddy Film
Directed by Ron Shelton; Screenplay by Ron Shelton and Robert Souza; Produced by Ron Shelton, Lou Pitt, Scott Bernstein, and Allegra Clegg; Executive Produced by David Lester and Joe Roth.
Starring Harrison Ford (as an old police detective and part-time realtor, Joe Gavilian), Josh Hartnett (as a young police detective and part-time actor and personal trainer, K.C. Calden), Lena Olin (as a psychic and Gavilian's paramour), Bruce Greenwood (as Bennie Macko), Isaiah Washington (as hip-hop/rap mogul, Sartain), Lolita Davidovich (as Cleo), Keith David (as Lt. Fuqua), Master P (as rapper, Julius Armas), Gladys Knight (as Olivia Robidoux), Lou Diamond Phillips (as undercover detective, Wanda), Kurupt (as rapper, K-Ro), Alan Dale (as Commander Preston), Dwight Yoakam (as Leroy Wasley), Martin Landau (as Jerry Duran), Eric Idle (as a celebrity), Frank Sinatra, Jr. (as Marty Wheeler), Robert Wagner (as himself), Johnny Grant (as himself), Smokey Robinson (as a cab driver), and Dre' (as ?), and others.
The less said about this film "cop film" the better. The story? Two cops, one older cop (Harrison Ford as Joe Gavilian) who moonlights in real estate, and a younger cop (Josh Hartnett as K.C. Calden) who moonlights as a part-time actor and personal trainer; and they investigate the murder of a hip-hop group that occurred, where else, but in Hollywood.
Oh, please, what a complete waist of time. Film has no originality, full of clichés: old cop vs. new cop; chase scenes; predictable bad guys; predictable script; etc., boring, boring, boring. This is yet another Harrison Ford clunker. Ford desperately needs to go back and film another Indiana Jones movie or another Star Wars (chapter 7, 8 or 9) or, like Frank Sinatra did in the 1950s, Ford needs to completely repackage his image. Ford looks worn, and pairing him against current heartthrob Josh Hartnett doesn't help - it only makes Ford look older, even lecherous. Ford is a much better actor than this film provides.
Film has an impressive cast, including Bruce Greenwood, Lena Olin, Lolita Davidovich, Dwight Yoakam, and Martin Landau. Plus, the following actors essentially had cameo roles: Gladys Knight, Robert Wagner, Johnny Grant, Dre' and Smokey Robinson. Nevertheless, despite the impressive cast this film still sucks from a lousy script, and lousy direction. Notably, director Shelton did a better job in 2003 with Kurt Russell in "Dark Blue," another cop movie, which also featured Davidovich, Kurupt and Master P.
Film is directed with formulaic and perfunctory consideration by Ron Shelton.
Until seeing "Bad Boys II" this was my choice as the worst film of the year.
Film has an unbearably long running length of 115 minutes and should have been trimmed by at least 115 minutes.
Recommendation: It's strictly a TV movie. Hopefully, a bunch of commercials will be added to provide you with plenty of time to do something else instead of watching this film! It's the perfect film for background noise and multi-tasking while doing more important things at home.