Home :: DVD :: Mystery & Suspense :: Crime  

Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
British Mystery Theater
Classics
Crime

Detectives
Film Noir
General
Mystery
Mystery & Suspense Masters
Neo-Noir
Series & Sequels
Suspense
Thrillers
The Dead Pool

The Dead Pool

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The 5th and Final(?) Chapter of the "Dirty Harry" Series
Review: The DIRTY HARRY series had reached its peak with the relentlessly entertaining Sudden Impact (1983), a peak that fell into The Dead Pool (1988), the 5th and final film of the legendary "Dirty Harry" saga. Although Clint Eastwood did not produce or direct The Dead Pool, it's the one film in the series that comes the closest in capturing what made Sudden Impact such a good film. The Dead Pool has a slower pace, but ranks among the best "Dirty Harry" films. Again, Lalo Schriffin was back to compose the memorable music, but Bruce Surtees, however, was not around to do his amazing camerawork. In The Dead Pool, Eastwood's portrayal as Inspector Harry Callahan is every bit as funny and grim-jawed as it was in Sudden Impact, just one saving grace of an otherwise typical crime movie.

As for the rest of the cast, Bradford Dillman did not return to portray Capt. Briggs (The Dead Pool and the first film are the only movies in the saga that lack this character), but Liam Neeson's strong screen presence is here as an arrogant horror film director who may or may not be the killer of several celebrities in San Francisco. Neither Neeson nor even Jim Carrey as a drug-addicted rock artist steal the film. Instead, the film is all Eastwood who chews up every scene he is in.

The Dead Pool has the most memorable car chase since Bullit that is also one of the funniest sequences of the film. Even though The Dead Pool was the last film, I couldn't help but feel that the ending wasn't "final" enough, as if the screenwriters were not certain if it would be the end. There was no turning point or real big payoff at the conclusion to tell me that it would be Eastwood's last "Dirty Harry" film. The ending seemed too typical to make it different. Overall, it just wasn't satisfying. Rated R for strong language and violence.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Smart
Review: The fifth Dirty Harry movie is probably the most curious. In it we find that there is a grade A psycho who is living a double life. Not only does he live his own life but he acts out the life of his favorite director, played by Liam Neeson. Harry is put on the case once the psycho starts to murder some San Francisco Bay area celebrities. The Dead Pool is probably the most tame of the Dirty Harry movies, but it resembles the first Dirty Harry better than any others. In the Dead Pool their is just one bad guy, just like the first. The other three had whole groups of bad guys such as the motorcycle cops in Magnum Force, the psycho killers from The Enforcer, and the pyscho killers from Sudden Impact. This movie may seem a little vague at first, but with a couple of viewings the cloud of confusion is lifted and the movie turns out to be a very enjoyable and fun movie expierience.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: DIRTY HARRY TAKES A LIGHTER TURN
Review: There is a decidedly comic touch to this installment in the Dirty Harry franchise, the kind that makes it more eminently watchable than its otherwise strict formula of boilerplate action and escape sequences would have you believe.

Eastwood had visibly aged by this film, which he does well to display in his mature reserve as he takes potshots at the mafioso, television news, horror movies. His antics are strongly supported by an able lineup, including a very convincing Patricia Clarkson as a pesky news reporter with morality pangs, Liam Neeson as an avant-garde director from across the pond, and, surprise surprise, a young Jim Carrey as a rocker-slash-druggie. Probably the best cast of any Dirty Harry caper.

The plot is hardly an intrigue, but barring some cheesy ideas like a certain danger posed by a toy-car, the film has a good deal of suspense to keep you glued for its length.

Recommended rental.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's Time, Harry, It's Time
Review: This is the last of five "Dirty Harry" films in which Eastwood stars as a San Francisco police detective. By the time of its initial release (in 1988), Eastwood had aged and times had changed but Callahan's non-negotiaable values and unorthodox methods had remained essentially the same. In this film, he investigates a pool which attracts bets on which of eight celebrities will be killed. (Several are.) Although this basic premise is implausible, Callahan takes full advantage of every opportunity to accuse the news media of glorifying, hence encouraging (albeit unintentionally) serial killings by focusing so much attention on them.

Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) is a case in point. Given the power of her personality on television and the thrust of her ambitions for a career in journalism, she is an obvious "target" for Callahan's criticisms of the news media. (Of course, she and he become involved romantically.) There are humorous elements and moments such as Liam Neeson playing a horror film director and the remote control toy car which pursues Callahan for several blocks, obviously a parody of car chases in Bullitt and other films. Lalo Schiflin's musical score is quite effective. Other than Neeson, however, most of the cast members seem listless under Buddy Van Horn's direction. (Yes, that's Jim Carrey in the role of Johnny Squares, one of the victims.) The fact that much of this film seems tired or recycled suggests to me that it's time for the Callahan series to be retire. It has been commercially successful while enabling Eastwood to refine his acting and (in Sudden Impact, 1983) directing skills. People are still buying or renting one or more of the five films, all of which also appear on television, so it looks like Callahan will be with us for many years to come.

Among the many reasons I admire Clint Eastwood so much is the fact that, as he as become older, he has allowed that to be indicated on screen; better yet, he has played roles appropriate to his age and addressed aging issues in many of them. Most other actors (and yes, actresses) star in many films over a period of many years during which the aging process takes its toll on them. However, given the skills of make-up specialists and what new cosmetic technologies make possible, these actors (and actresses) continue to portray characters many years younger than they. Often, older male actors are cast opposite a romantic lead young enough to be their daughter. That is seldom true of older female actors. By the way, I still think Erica Barry should have selected Julian Mercer rather than Harry Sanborn in Something's Gotta Give.

Apparently Eastwood agrees with Harry Callahan: "A man's got to know his limitations." Consider the evolution of the Eastwood persona from Tightrope (1984) through Unforgiven (1992), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Absolute Power (1997) to True Crime (1999) and Space Cowboys (2000). Hopefully other roles appropriate to Eastwood's age await his talents as an actor. As Mystic River (2003) clearly demonstrates, his talents as a director are undiminished by the 31 years since Play Misty for Me. On the contrary, they are greater now than ever before.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dead Pool is the weakest of the series but still good
Review: This is the weakest of all the series but it is a little like the original. There is a male serial killer in this one as in the original but he is not half as interesting as Scorpio in Dirty Harry.
As well as trying to find this serial killer, Harry is in trouble for putting a mob kingpin in jail and the mobboss sends his soldiers out constantly to kill him-if you can believe that. But Harry visits the mob boss in prison and tells Lou Genero, the kingpin, that if anything happens to him, one of the other prisoners who killed a bunch of men with his teeth, will pay a visit to Genero and it won't be a friendly one.So the assassination attempts cease and Harry beats up two guys following him, thinking that it was another hit. He soon discovers that they were now his bodyguards and Harry has just beat them up.
In the meantime Harry is investigating the serial killings, suspecting a movie director of the murders. Harry also tells him he doesn't like being on his betting pool called the Dead Pool, a betting system where people bet people in high risk jobs or situations will die soon. The movie director is exonerated and it is later learned that someone who wrote to the director many times is the killer.This killer kidnaps Harry's girlfriend, a reporter and Harry goes after them. But this time he doesn't kill him with his Magnum.At the end when the authorities arrive one cop asks Harry where the killer is, Harry says, "He's hanging out back there."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What kind of Film Critic are you?!
Review: This little known Dirty Harry installment was directed by stuntman
Buddy Van Horn with style and skill. It's about a pyschopathic fan of horror movie director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) who takes a "harmless" game called the Dead Pool that several people of Swan's cast were playing and turns it into a slashing nightmare.
Patricia Clarkson plays the conscientious reporter who gets the interview of her life..literally with the madman ..I forget his name
but he does a good job with the Holland Rooke character.
Mr.Jim Carrey who I think is his first feature film role ,although a small one plays Johnny Squares a drugged out rock musician.
Anyway the celebs on Peter Swan's list begin to die, and yep Harry Callahan is also on that list. The one show stealing scene is the madman and his souped up remote control car chasing Callahan and his Chinese partner thru San Francisco. Harry's boss deems him "good for the dept's image".
Best Line of the movie..Harry to his Lt. "you have any kids Lt?"
Lt.."me?..no"....Harry.."Lucky for them."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: OK, BUT IT'S LOST A LOT OF ITS EXCITEMENT BY THIS POINT
Review: THIS TIME, HARRY CALLAHAN IS BACK TO INVESTIGATE A SERIES OF CELEBRITY MURDERS LINKED TO A LIST CALLED THE DEAD POOL, WHICH HAS HIS NAME ON IT. HAS SOME OK ACTION AND A FEW GOOD SPOTS [NAMELY THE CHASE BETWEEN DIRTY HARRY AND A BOMBED TOY CAR], BUT CLINT EASTWOOD HAD BEGINED TO AGE BY THE TIME THIS FOURTH SEQUEL CAME AROUND. I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN THE OTHER THREE SEQUELS, BUT THIS SURELY DOESN'T MEASURE UP WITH THE ORIGINAL. THIS ONE EVEN HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR, AND THIS ONE IS PRETTY LIGHTHEARTED COMPARED TO THE FIRST MOVIE, WHICH I DID SEE. CLINT EASTWOOD'S PERFORMANCE IS THE MAIN THING KEEPING THIS ONE GOING. OTHERWISE, THIS IS A PRETTY MEDIOCRE SEQUEL. LOOK FOR AN APPEARANCE BY A YOUNGER JIM CARREY AS A DRUG ADDICTED ROCK SINGER.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A good movie, but nothing else . . .
Review: This was the fourth, and final, sequel to the "Dirty Harry" series and it can be understandable why Clint Eastwood finally decided to put the old boy to rest. While it is not a bad movie, the movie itself wasn't anything groundbreaking. "Dirty Harry" was a groundbreaking movie, and the first three sequels had a good plot, subplot, or comedy. This movie only had the comedy, as the subplots are very 1 dimensional. A very fun, but could have easily been the same movie without "Harry Callahan" and his classic one-liners. Eastwood could have played any type of character in this movie, or not even had it starring him at all. If you have never seen a "Dirty Harry" film, then please get the original film or even "Magnum Force" to really understand the character. This movie adds to the "amazing adventurers", but it may not explain why Dirty Harry was so great. A great movie, but needed a whole lot more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great fun!
Review: Though not as good as the previous Harry film where Sondra Locke goes around shooting half of Frisco, this one is still tons of fun! Jim Carrey gives a hilarious performance as headbanger and I just love when Clint grabs the TV news camera and throws it to the ground!

This film is also great cause Jim Carrey gets offed in the first few minutes, thus saving the poor audience from having to suffer through his hammy grabs for attention.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Last of the Dirty Harry Series
Review: Well, it's a Clint Eastwood flick, and that's enough for me. You'll see the usual elimination of the punks, and some great lines to go with it. Harry's partner in 'Dead Pool' is one tough dude... I thought he was great. And of course you'll see Harry at odds with the administrators (something that really strikes home for me, as I was a high school teacher for 32 years in a district where the upper administrators were much like the ones Harry had to deal with... only interested in political correctness and their own personal advancement at the expense of everyone else). The other reviewers have given you an idea of the plot and the story itself, and done it very well. As you'd expect, in the end, the bad guy gets the point.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates