The Rookie

This wasn't ever meant to be a deep dive into the Serpico psyche of cops!

Just a simple action/buddy movie with a few laughs and some ok action.

Julia is great in it though.

From memory (hope I'm not mistaken) Sheen was basically offered the movie by Eastwood to help straighten him out as his recent success was reportedly going to his nose.

And yes the real crime committed in this movie IS the colour of the car!!!

Some people can dislike Charlie Sheen or Clint Eastwood. Of course, there are some reasons to dislike every man - maybe except Jesus Christ! But such negatively preconceived opinions can not make a real picture.

Here we have a movie of an average plot class, but, methinks, with good actor playing. Clint is perfect as a skilled and dried cop (just as in the '88 Dirty Harry series, 'The Dead Pool' - by the way, one of the best from the collection, maybe even better than 'Magnum Force'), and Sheen is good as a police neophyte. Their relationship is quite intriguing and is shown pretty good!

This is not Shakespeare's work, no one shall expect something swashbuckling from this movie: it is just a relaxing film to 'take a couple of Budweiser, belch twice and go to bed' - or how Clint Eastwood exactly said to describe a good evening. Very optimistic and amusing film. Such movies must be!

It's clear that upon watching "The Rookie" that Clint Eastwood's heart simply was not with this project - either as a director or an actor. Possibly he only decided to do this "commercial" project so that Warner Brothers would green-light the less commercial "White Hunter Black Heart" that came out the same year. Whatever the reason, Eastwood seems to be going on autopilot in front of and behind the camera. His performance here lacks conviction, and he comes across as a cranky old man instead of a man with grit and determination. And as a director, he slips up multiple times. The action sequences are dull when they should be spectacular - the freeway chase, for example, is flat despite all the vehicles that get destroyed. The night scenes and often the interior scenes are dark and murky, making it hard to see all the details about what's going on.

And what's the deal with the dream sequence at the opening of the movie? In fact, there are a number of script boo-boos that make me surprised that Eastwood didn't demand a rewrite. Why doesn't Eastwood call for backup at the opening action sequence? Why is Raul Julia's past and motives never properly spelled out, and why is Eastwood so determined to bust him? Why do Eastwood and Sheen hardly have any real conversations between them instead of clichéd "tough cop" talk? Also, the slow-moving story at times feels like the writers were writing it as the movie was being shot, instead of using a finished screenplay. It might also explain why key actions and scenes seem to be missing from the finished product.

What really annoyed me most about "The Rookie" was all the swearing. Don't get me wrong - I use the same words in my private life, and I have seen movies I've enjoyed with plenty of swearing. But here, every curse word comes across as forced, as if a child was making this movie and gleefully adding naughty language in an effort to appear tough. It's simply not convincing. Maybe with better direction and a heavily rewritten script, it could have worked. Those things probably would have greatly improved the rest of the movie as well.

This movie is a very standard cop buddy action film. A veteran cop is assigned to work with a rookie cop to catch a crook who killed the vet's old partner. This is so standard of action film's but that doesnt matter, its still good mindless fun. I though the action was good in this film, especially the opening car chase, and I thought Eastwood gave s good performance and was even funny at times. I am not a big Charlie Sheen fan but I thought he was ok in this one, and Raul Julia was solid as the bad guy. 3.5/5. Recommended, even though its like so many action film's its very enjoyable.

David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen) is a new detective in the LAPD. He's haunted by the guilt over the death of his brother. Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) is a detective investigating Strom (Raul Julia)'s car thief ring. His partner is killed by Strom and the case is transfered to homicide. He is given Ackerman as his new partner and he refuses to let go of the case against Strom.

It's a buddy cop drama with a lifeless buddy cop relationship. Eastwood is rehashing his Dirty Harry persona. Sheen doesn't play off of it well. He's too cold. It lacks humor and it lacks chemistry. There are some fine action stunt work but there isn't much else.