The Dead Pool (1988)

Someone clearly made a conscious decision to lighten the mood with this “Dirty Harry” (1971) sequel by introducing a bit more pith into the dialogue and a few lightly comedic elements to the scenarios but for me that just turned something a little bit special into something a little bit ordinary. “Callaghan” (Clint Eastwood) is causing ructions at the station because he won’t play ball with the media. Determined to keep him from himself, his captain allocates him a Chinese-American partner “Al” (Evan C. Kim) to not only track down a serial killer but also to improve the department’s optics! As to the killer, well he doesn’t seem to much like celebrity either and so is rather brutally - and ingeniously - bumping them off. What surprises our curmudgeonly policeman is that he seems to be on this hit list, and with their investigations leading them into the murky world of film-making where “Swan” (Liam Neeson) might seem an obvious candidate, their investigations get underway - at no slight cost to the city! Eastwood does enough here, and the buddy-cop theme is played down so as not to steal his limelight too much, but the story is weak and played out using too much cinematic gimmickry - dark, creepy, locations and over-mixed audio, before a piercing denouement that is a bit rushed and falls a bit flat. It passes the time fine and showcases Eastwood’s less-is-more style adequately, but as a follow-up it is disappointing.

"The Dead Pool" fails to achieve the same high profile level of success and popularity as "Sudden Impact" (1983) and it isn't particularly difficult to understand why. "Sudden Impact" is notoriously violent with an almost ceaseless barrage of senseless shootings and beatings, but more importantly than this it still has a sense of enthusiasm and you do have the distinct feeling the cast really wants to participate, although that doesn't appear to be the case here. "The Dead Pool" too often feels as if it is being treated as something of an unpalatable chore which Clint Eastwood must carry out as quickly and efficiently and satisfactorily as possible just to please Warner Brothers and perhaps to provide them with yet another box office bonanza. However, even though there is an unmistakable atmosphere of lethargy in the air all the time, this is still a well paced and entertaining distraction.

"The Dead Pool" fails to achieve the same high profile level of success and popularity as "Sudden Impact" (1983) and it isn't particularly difficult to understand why. "Sudden Impact" is notoriously violent with an almost ceaseless barrage of senseless shootings and beatings, but more importantly than this it still has a sense of enthusiasm and you do have the distinct feeling the cast really wants to participate, although that doesn't appear to be the case here. "The Dead Pool" too often feels as if it is being treated as something of an unpalatable chore which Clint Eastwood must carry out as quickly and efficiently and satisfactorily as possible just to please Warner Bros. and perhaps to provide them with yet another box office bonanza. However, even though there is an unmistakable atmosphere of lethargy in the air all the time, this is still a well paced and entertaining distraction.

I don't care what other people think of the film--I love the Dirty Harry movies...ALL of them. Yes, it would have been much better if Eastwood himself had directed it, but the supporting cast is great.

Harry is getting older and this movie is just a good combination of most of the (bad) 80's ingredients. We now have the typical asian Kung Fu fighter as Harry's partner and a horrible synthesizer sound track. Good thing about this forgettable movie, however, is the cast. We get to see Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson and Jim "James" Carrey in one of their first movies. Maybe, to save, the chase scene with the remote controlled toy car.