Such a frustrating disappointment

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Just watched another one that I had never seen before: the 5th and final entry in the Dirty Harry series, "The Dead Pool" (1988); the only one in this classic series that I had not previously experienced. In this one, a serial killer has been eliminating famous celebrities, one by one, from the "dead pool" betting list of the title. Harry Callahan himself appears on that list, which makes finding the wacko/psycho guilty of these crimes a bit more personal for him than usual. The No. 1 suspect is apparently a sleazy horror director, well played by Liam Neeson. (The star of this director's latest production, a heroin junkie/rock idol played by the young Jim Carrey, here billed as "James Carrey," had been the first victim of this kill list.) Soon, a pretty TV reporter (Patricia Clarkson) gets involved in the case, as well. This film is perhaps the least of the five Dirty Harry films but still provides much in the way of action and food for thought. The picture's highlight is most certainly the car chase that transpires toward the end, in which Harry and his Chinese partner are chased through the San Francisco streets by a bomb-carrying, remote-controlled mini toy car, in a sequence that is most likely a homage to the classic car chase in "Bullitt." Clint Eastwood is effortlessly cool as the film's lead character, and does get to deliver any number of amusing lines. My favorite such comes when he is about to shoot the psycho at the film's end with a tremendous harpoon cannon: "You're out of bullets...which means you're sh_t out of luck!" Director Buddy Van Horn does a very nice job at keeping things moving along here, and in all, the film looks great and is fairly satisfying...although it is perhaps best that the producers called it quits with Dirty Harry right here....

Dead Pool (1988)Plot In A Paragraph: Dirty Harry Callahan (Clint) must stop a sick secret contest to murder local celebrities, which includes himself as a target.After a two year absence, and with considerably darker hair than in his last two movies, Eastwood is back on familiar ground in a by the numbers Dirty Harry flick, it's all there, Harry constantly being shouted at by his superiors, is eventually suspended, a partner who is not around when the movie reaches its conclusion plenty of action and Clint having memorable one liners. But whilst the other movies looked big budget for their day, Dead Pool looks and feels cheap, almost like a TV, it doesn't help the the directing is uninspired too. Buddy Van Horn is a friend of Eastwood's and I'm assuming that's how he got the job, as he only directed three movies, and Eastwood was the star in all of them. Evan C Clark is fine as Harry's partner Al, based on this performance I never would have guessed that Liam Neeson would grow old in the industry!! Likewise Jim Carrey, who gives the impression he is reading his lines from a none to helpful prompt book. Patricia Clarkson bothered me as I couldn't place her, until I realised she was Kevin Costner's wife in The Untouchables.I love Guns N Roses, but the extended use of the song is a little too much, and the appearance by the band seems forced. When director Peter Swan (Neeson) says "We needed a music video tie in" you can't help but think that's all it was. I do enjoy the call backs to previous movies Callaghan muttering "Swell" and "Marvellous" and informing the bad guy he is out of bullets!! The newspaper clipping mentioning Scorpio being caught etcThe film is fine, but like so many of the others it's only vaguely engaging and pretty much instantly forgettable. And that is not what I want from a Dirty Harry movie. The last sequel Clint Eastwood ever made, was the least successful of the five Dirty Harry films at the box-office. Dead Pool also ruined the run of each Dirty Harry movie grossing more than the previous movie. It only grossed $37 million at the domestic Box Office to end the year the 30th highest grossing movie of 1988.

This movie is disappointing in so many ways - cheesy 80s synth music; over-the-top acting by Neeson and Carrey; disjointed plotting (what does the Mob angle got to do with anything?), ridiculous radio control car chase gimmick, etc. But the real problem is the lack of a strong villain. Actually, there is no actual villain for most of this film. And certainly not a villain worthy of Dirty Harry - think instead of Scorpio from Dirty Harry. While most aspects of The Dead Pool are sub-par, all that mess remains moot given the lack of a strong foil to the force that is Dirty Harry Callahan.

This was the last "Dirty Harry" film and it was directed by veteran stunt man, Buddy Van Horn. It is surprising then to find that this one had the least amount of action and stunts out of the entire franchise.Clint Eastwood plays a softer less violent Dirty Harry this time out. It feels like there is an attempt to show Harry as more of a well rounded individual. This movies marks the turning point where PC started affecting how movie characters were written. At times the conflict between he and the bad guys plays second fiddle to the romantic conflict between Eastwood and his romantic foil, Patricia Clarkson, who plays gutsy but beautiful reporter Samantha Walker. This duality works really well, since its been well established throughout the franchise that Harry absolutely detests journalists. The chemistry between the two is good, second only to Eastwood and eventual wife Sandra Locke.Other co-stars include Jim Carrey, who does just an okay job playing a frantic junkie in a performance that is somewhat amateurish; its more zany-bad than zany-good. Carrey fans though will warm to the first inklings of this immensely talented comic's ability; his performance in this movie is a poorly executed version of the zany characters he would later perfect in Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber.Taken fans will likewise be surprised at how young Liam Neeson is in this. Neeson is marginally better than Carrey, playing one of the many scuzzbuckets that usually people Dirty Harry's America.This was Dirty Harry's swan song. As is the case with Eastwood's career by this point, this movie is lean and mean, barely scraping into a 90 minute running time. He learned cinematic economy from legendary crime director Don Siegel. As you move forward through the Dirty Harry franchise you can see this increasing and you can certainly see it in Eastwood's post Dirty Harry directing career; Lean and mean just like Clint Eastwood himself. It's not the best Dirty Harry film, but there are only five films in the franchise, so watch them all, but watch this last.