The Dead Pool
1988
Director: Buddy Van
Horn
Starring: Clint
Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, Jim Carrey, Evan C. Kim
Rated R
Fuck with me, buddy, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll have
to unbutton your collar to shit.
~Harry
Callahan
Dirty Harry returns to the screen one last time in 1988’s The Dead Pool. Director by another Eastwood “Yes, man”,
longtime Eastwood stunt coordinator Buddy Van Horn delivers an adventure that
finds the perfect medium between a film like Magnum Force and Sudden Impact. The film boasts likely the most familiar, big name cast of
the series. However, in 1988, this cast
was much a bunch of nobodies. Liam
Neeson and Patricia Clarkson had minimalist film experience and were bouncing
around television guest spots prior to The
Dead Pool. Jim Carrey (then going by
James), was much of nothing then. He was
up and coming in a few films, but this was likely his first major and dramatic
venture. And its not like these were
star making or star turning roles for them either. Most were still years off from making a
splash.
For the most part, the film is pretty much a
paint-by-numbers directing job. However,
the key piece of the film is a car chase between Harry and a remote control car
armed with a bomb. It sounds silly, but it’s
rather engaging and extremely entertaining.
I’d even go as far as to say it may be the most notable car chase and
action scene in the entire series. It’s
a lot of fun.
Harry’s partner survives this time around. He’s one who’s got all the predisposed info
about Harry’s partners and follows what to do to a T. He also brings some great charm and humor to
the part. Quan is constantly delivering
disturbing one-liners at crime scenes with such innocence and a lighthearted
tone, its pretty funny. Harry is also
visibly disturbed by it. There's also
plenty of inside baseball humor regarding the movie industry and forcing
different races into police movies just for the sake of diversity. I’m going to go as far as saying that the
character of Al Quan is Harry’s most well rounded, fun, memorable and best
partner in the entire franchise.
The film is nowhere near as gritty as the last two and its
not as comical as the fourth. But The Dead Pool finds a fine line and
becomes a smart piece of popcorn entertainment.
It brings thrills, suspense, laughs and delivers on action movie
goods. Its not too dark or serious to turn
off some more mainstream film goers and is far from dopey mindless action. I highly recommend the first film to people,
but if someone isn’t sheen on 70s cinema, this one might work. The
Dead Pool is a hell of a good time.
It sends Harry Callahan out on a very high note. And like every film previous, it sends him
out, with helicopter shot, leaving an area surrounded by a large body of water.
Up Next: Ranking the Dirty Harry Franchise
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