Thanks for the memories!

A Disappointing Continuation

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The job of the director is to pull a performance out of an actor. This director couldn't pull a tab off a can of Dr. Pepper! Maybe the director was having a bad year?! All of the performance were lousy ... which basically shows you that some of our favorite actors aren't as talented as we thought we were. Stephanie Zimbalist basically played a character somewhat reminiscent of Valerie Harper, in voice only. She looked horrible with freckled and blotchy skin. Get with it people ... we don't want to see her looking bad, takes all the fun out of watching her. Dennis Hopper was his usual boring self ... just kidding! Dennis is Dennis ... nothing more, nothing less. Just an average actor. Joe Penny ... what a let down! The man was two legs short of a roasted boar ... a total disaster area! Do we really want our hero types playing villains? I think not! Basically, the movie is a flop ... and somewhat boring. Nothing new ... old dialogues, and old plots! Oh ... and Sandra Locke ... guess she's only good in a Clint Eastwood movie, because she stunk worse than anyone else! Over-acting, with no sincerity what-so-ever.

This film was on sale in Wal-Mart and I decided that for the price it was worth purchasing. As soon as the film began, I knew right from the start that I was going to enjoy this type of film. Dennis Hopper(Vincent Swan),"20th & Wolf",'05, played a retired detective who had some experience with a past serial killer whom he had killed. Vincent is called back to Los Angeles where the crime had taken place years ago and tried to assist the police department with this Cold Case. Stephanie Zimbalist,(Francis Aldobrandi),"Malpractice",'01, is assigned to Vincent Swan to work on the case together. There is an appearance of Sandra Locke,(Adele Highsmith),"Clean & Narrow",'99, who gives a great supporting role and it was great to see her acting without her ex live in bow, Clint Eastwood. If you like a mystery story from 1999, this is not a bad film to view.

O.K. Here is what happened. I went to the VIDEO STORE to rent THE TAO of STEVE and did not look carefully at the DVD case and ended up renting this stinker of a flick instead. Now don't get me wrong, this film had potential. Dennis Hopper is always at least tolerable or better, and is not bad here. The problem was the poorly explained plot, the numerous bad performances, and the director's insistence on using every police cliche going. The film uses the venetian blind shadows in just about every scene. I really cannot express the multitude of reasons no one should see this. Seems to me it went straight to video for a reason.

I started rooting for one character to be the next to die just because the actor's performance was so God-awful. Thankfully, my wish was granted. Dennis Hopper was likeable and gives a good performance. Stephanie Zimbalist's performance was marred by a now-you- hear-it, now-you-don't Noo Yawk accent. Other than that, a silly plot with a one-trick pony of a twist, cheap psychological background, stupid police tricks (don't they go to some police school that teaches them to disarm suspects and carry their cell phones with them rather than leave them deep in the woods, in their hidden cars?), and ponderous music make this a movie to miss.