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Coming at the end of the cop/buddy/action film tidal wave that flooded the theaters in the 1980's, Clint Eastwood seems to be the only actor having fun in this long, two hour cliche.
Aging detective Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) works the auto theft unit with his aging partner Powell (Hal Williams- channeling Murtaugh from the "Lethal Weapon" series). The two swoop in to arrest Strom (a miscast Raul Julia) and his henchmen, who are loading up a car-carrying big rig full of stolen luxury automobiles. Powell is killed, and the bad guys get away after a nicely done car chase down a Los Angeles highway. Pulovski is not only taken off the case since it is given to Homicide, he is saddled with a new partner- titular rookie David Ackerman (a terrible Charlie Sheen). Ackerman, comically told in flashback and bad dreams, feels responsible for his brother's death when they were kids. His father (Tom Skerritt) is an unfeeling millionaire, and his main squeeze Sarah (Lara Flynn Boyle) is a headstrong law student who must consistently tell David how wonderful he is. Pulovski, with Ackerman tagging along, goes against department brass (where have you heard this one before?) and tails Strom and his own psychotic main squeeze Liesl (a menacing Sonia Braga), ruining the criminals' plans at every turn until they suddenly hit too close to home with the silly kidnapping of Pulovski during a casino heist gone wrong. Ackerman must get his hands dirty to rescue his partner.
So much about this film could have worked. Eastwood directs a very action-heavy story, full of explosions and car chases. The credited stuntmen outnumber the credited cast. While the action scenes work for the most part, aside from some violent gunplay that puts a damper on the "fun," casting Sheen as a main character does not work. I was a fan of Sheen's for a while before he squandered his talent and became a national embarrassment, but I sometimes forgot he was in the film, even when he's onscreen. This isn't a low energy performance, it's a no-energy performance, as he sleepwalks through his role. It's more noticeable because Eastwood seems to have fun as Nick. He makes sure we forget Dirty Harry Callahan as he mugs and quips his way through, although the running gag about trying to find a light for his ever-present cigar gets old quick. Casting Julia as a German was a dumb move and with a name like Liesl, I thing Braga was supposed to be German too. Julia's fine as the villain until he remembers he's supposed to be German and tries a different accent. The cast of familiar faces goes through the motions, but this gets very draggy after Nick is kidnapped, and the plot careens forward without making much sense. A few minutes should have been shaved off of this, two hours was much too long to have to deal with these characters.
While "The Rookie" was reminiscent of those big actioners of the 1980's (it was written for Sean Connery, and at one point Gene Hackman and Matthew Modine were attached), it suffers from lousy plotting and casting choices. It's been pointed out to me by an Eastwood apologist troll that Eastwood was contractually obligated to do this film, which is always a cop-out excuse for making a passionless, poor movie or turning in a bored performance. You're being forced to work at something because you must do it? Oh, you mean like a huge chunk of the workforce today? So turning in a crappy product or effort because of that servitude is acceptable? Not buying it, that's a rookie argument.
Stats:
(1990) 120 min. (4/10)
-Directed by Clint Eastwood
-Written by Boaz Yakin & Scott Spiegel
-Cast: Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Raul Julia, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sonia Braga, Tom Skerritt, Hal Williams, Pepe Serna, Marco Rodriguez, Pete Randall, Donna Mitchell, Xander Berkeley, Tony Plana
(R)- Physical violence, strong gun violence, some sexual violence, gore, strong profanity, brief nudity, adult situations, drug use, alcohol and tobacco use
Media Viewed: DVD
