Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blistering performances.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

In True Blue Tom Berenger plays a dirty Harry like cop who is constantly getting disciplined and/or chewed out by the higher ups most notably by Barry Newman his immediate superior. After a drug sting doesn't yield what it's supposed to presumably because of Berenger he gets assigned a really tough homicide, all that's found is a severed hand in a pond in a city park.It's determined to be female and the hand yields fingerprints in the system. A young woman who has a rap sheet for prostitution who also has roommate doing same and a third who is also missing who has left not so much as a fingernail.It's all complicated maybe too complicated tale of city corruption, drug dealing, folks who have alternative sexual tastes. Some Asian drug gangs are involved.Then there's a most mysterious roommate of the deceased played by Lori Heuring who Berenger starts feeling the heat for below decks. Only the gayest people in the world wouldn't.The story may get a bit too complex, but there's enough action out there. Including a final confrontation right out of a Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry film. As for the final irony, think of the John Wayne film Rio Lobo and what that dirty gun does.

What happened to Tom Berenger's career? Is he difficult to work with? Or a poor judge of scripts? I always found him effective and interesting, and indeed he makes the beginning of "True Blue" interesting as he plays a cop with the unlikely name of Rembrandt Macy. I also liked the casting of the hip young cop team he's in charge of. And who can complain about Lori Heuring as the movie's mystery girl? However this cast is wasted as the film plods on and tries to startle us with a few switcheroos, but they are wasted as the audience has long fallen asleep before they unravel. Berenger appears to have happily settled in the world of direct to video movie releases occupied by the likes of Michael Biehn and Tim Matheson. Too bad. I think he's better than this. I had never heard of this film before I saw it in the library. Now I know why.

"True Blue", just another Berenger B-flick, is a noir wannabe in which he plays a homicide detective with a past who's trying to get to the bottom of a murder mystery while trying to avoid the bottom of a blond tart involved with the case. This budget conscious flick fleshes out only half the characters in its convoluted and messy plot, relegating the other half to the backstory or endless conversation about the goings-on of a bunch of bad guys we don't get to see. "True Blue" is the kind of flick you might want to watch on late night tv when your choices are limited to vampires and old movies. (C)

The movie has a very dark feel about it. In each progressive scene the director takes the viewer deeper and deeper into the abyss of inner city corruption. The dreary mood of the film serves as an excellent backdrop for the mature subject matter being presented. The main character played by Tom Berenger, does a great job of portraying a man who is on the brink of losing it all, and sets the stage for his apparent liability. Although some of the scenes are predictable, the film does a good job of keeping you guessing as to what's coming next. Overall I found this to be an enjoyable, and entertaining film, well worth the price of a rental for an evening.