Rent The Rookie (1991)

Supposedly a comedy cop/buddy/action movie - but it's dire - The Rookie review by RP

Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors and directors and I've been viewing again some of his films that I haven't seen for a long time - and having now seen 'The Rookie' after a gap of close to 25 years, I now remember that there's a good reason that I've not seen it a second time in that period.

This is an awful film. I think it's supposed to a comedy cop/buddy/action movie, but the plot is so ludicrous, the script poor (there are some abysmal one-liners and far too much f-ing and blinding), with ridiculous stunts and silly 'action' sequences, the acting half-hearted, and the introduction of half-baked sex scenes is just embarrassing. And that's without mentioning spraying half of California with enough bullets to kill an army - but not, apparently, Mr Eastwood. And it's not funny.

This film falls between the period just before Clint settled down into his 'grumpy old man' roles (he was 60 when this was made) and is maybe an attempt to reprise his success with the 'Any Which Way...' films. If so, it is an abysmal failure.

Sorry Clint, but this one is so dire that I can only give it 2/5 stars - and that's being generous.

A fairly standard Eastwood-style thriller, with some genuinely incredible & brilliant stunt work - The Rookie review by Timmy B

One of countless films which enabled writer/director Clint Eastwood to not only play some variation of law enforcement, but also to slightly vary his tough guy schtick which served him extremely well in the Dirty Harry film series.

The Rookie stars Eastwood as street-wise & experienced detective Nick Pulovski. After a sting operation attempting to catch career criminal Strom goes wrong & Pulovski's partner is killed, he is partnered with young & fresh-faced rookie David Ackerman, much to Pulovski's chagrin. They then go after Strom again, determined to bring him down once & for all.

When it comes to originality, forget it. This film wears it's clichés like badges of honour. From the opening scene with Pulovski's partner being killed, to the showdown at the end, you know what you are in for. When I was watching this with my close friend who I see many films with, sometimes we just had to see the opening shots to know exactly what was going to happen. There were also plenty of times we burst out laughing at the sheer on-the-nose/clichéd dialogue that first Eastwood & later Sheen say on screen.

But this film also has some surprises, which elevate it above many other terrible cop thrillers released around that time. Far & away the best thing about this film is the absolutely incredible stunt work which is featured throughout it, from the opening chase featuring an articulated car transporter, through to the jaw-dropping escape by car out of an exploding building, all done for real with no CGI. The film, like many of Eastwood's movies, is also extremely competently directed by him, zipping along at a good pace & never being boring.

Another "surprise," but one which was both extremely weird & fairly unpleasant was a rape, committed by a woman on a man, which was filmed almost like a love scene, not a sexual assault, and which the film then revisits later on almost to get laughter but comes across as extremely bad taste.

One of the biggest surprises to me was the almost total lack of chemistry between Eastwood and Sheen. Here are two actors who, in their previous work, have unbelievable screen presence & charisma. But here, they never truly gel, which then makes Ackerman's later actions both far-fetched & odd. Raul Julia looks like he is having a ball, capitalising on his post-Addams Family success.

Overall, this is a decent film with a few twists & turns to keep you interested. However, when you know just how good Eastwood in particular can be, you do come away feeling slightly short-changed. Full marks to the stunt coordinator though