A formulaic predictability sets the tone for The Dead Pool. This fifth film about San Francisco homicide detective Harry Callahan has all the spiciness of warm milk and all the suspense of a kitten at play.
Yet, there are quickly accumulating series of corpses, fanatical shoot-outs in public places, and gruesome, torturous deaths. Violence exists mainly for its own sake, as a sop to genre fans, rather than as an enhancement of tension.
If the film is meant as a parody of the previous adventures of Dirty Harry, it is a half-hearted attempt. One scary-yet-amusing scene involves the pursuit of our hero by a remote-control-operated toy Corvette that will blow him to smithereens. He knows it, too, so a mad chase ensues over hilly streets, in a sendup of the classic car-chase form in Bullitt. But for the most part, The Dead Pool plays it straight and dull.
Empathy is hard to build from the first murder victim, a heroin-addicted, temperamental rock star who was playing with fire anyway. His name is on a hit list devised as a game by Peter Swan (Liam Neeson), a director of sleazy horror films, and several members of his production crew. The killer sends updated lists of celebrities to those who might catch him and Callahan’s name, as the result of putting a major crime figure behind bars, is on it.
There are precious few thrills along the way. The first time Callahan bumps off a few thugs in one-two-three fashion, the filmgoer experiences an entertaining sense of deja vu. Here is a popular screen hero undiminished by time. He is the same curmudgeonly tough guy, disparaging of mean-dog media representatives, and impervious to police department authority. Yet, when the same scenes of fatal dispatch occur again and again, there is no kick because there is no contest. We know who will be invincible, even as lesser men around him take bullets and die.
A few needed humorous moments are provided by Al Quan (Evan Kim), who plays Callahan’s new partner, a young Chinese-American awed by the homicide beat. He’s better than Callahan in one regard — when they take on the bad guys, it is Quan’s martial arts skills that at least leave the villain alive.
Director Buddy Van Horn (Any Which Way You Can) does a dreadful job of the film’s climax, which takes place at a shipyard at night, and Steve Sharon’s unexciting screenplay must bear some of the blame for this lead-footed sequel.
As if a hint of romance might blunt his threatening, macho image, Callahan’s soft side is underplayed. He does get cozy with an ambitious TV reporter (Patricia Clarkson), who does an ethical turnabout in regard to her profession. But he is only shown coming out of her apartment in the morning and giving comfort with an arm around her shoulder.
The Dead Pool isn’t Clint Eastwood’s finest screen moment. He even looks a bit bored.
THE DEAD POOL
A homicide detective searches for a serial killer.
With Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson. Directed by Buddy Van Horn. Written by Steve Sharon.
Violence, coarse language, profanity.
