The Rookie (1990)

"The Rookie" takes me back to the early 90s when thrillers and action pictures were all set aside for Sunday night, and from time to time, I was allowed to enjoy the movie with my Dad. Give me a few seconds to embrace the nostalgia... And I remember when I saw good old Clint Eastwood in his car, watching carjackers loading a whole semi-trailer with their recent (and valuable) "purchases", I had but one certitude in mind: his partner would better have a last puff on his buddy's cigars because he'd spp, become another "dead on duty" statistic. He wasn't a few days from retirement but he was old, he was Black and well, as Roger Ebert pointed out, the film's title doesn't make you expect a "dazzling work of originality". But I didn't know Ebert at that time, only my classics.So naturally, the man was shot from behind by the grand theft mastermind, a German (!?) mustached villain played by the late Raul Julia. Of course, it made the matter more personal for Nick Puvloski, a fine and shameless ersatz of Dirty Harry. Did I groan for such a lack of originality from the start? Well, I guess I just enjoyed the chase across the expressway and I knew the film would provide the shot of adrenalin we all expected for a Sunday Night. Of course, Nick doesn't get the villain, but he makes him lose the precious loot, creating another 'personal' grudge on the other side... and the next day, he's assigned a new partner, a young detective named David Ackerman.The set-up was predictable and the rest of the story was swimming in familiar territories: a tense relationship between the old street-smart cop and the sensitive rookie played by Charlie Sheen, bargains with snitches, television kicked by the bad guy, the sexy villainess, and the spectacular stunts. I didn't see the film for years but my memory wasn't blurry at all, I still had enough scenes stuck in my mind to have this in the "memorable films" compartment. I remember Sonia Braga shooting David in the back with that "amateur" line (the ad made me expect he would die for real), I remember David again, getting smoke on his face from a condescending bartender and a few scenes later, returning the favor back with a slightly disproportionate retribution, the spectacularly explosive stunt... and I also liked the final touch at the end with the initial scene being Xeroxed almost line from line. So when the film ended, we knew it wasn't a masterpiece but we didn't care, we had our share of fun and I gladly saw the re-run a few days later. I was aware of Clint Eastwood's reputation of course and I enjoyed his presence and his interactions with Sheen, but it was long before I became a movie buff, more familiar with his best work and capable to discern between such movies as "The Rookie" and other more valuable achievements. A few years after, on another Sunday night, "A Perfect World" was aired and I was capable to realize that this film played in another league. And we can say in totally objective terms that "The Rookie" doesn't reinvent the wheel, doesn't recreate the same chemistry that made the "Lethal Weapon" series and that it's one of Eastwood's lesser films... but even with that regard, the flaws are still enjoyable to say the least. Don't they call that a guilty pleasure?I think it says it all. Watching it again, I knew I was supposed to cringe many times. I was surprised to see how wooden and emotionless Sheen played his character, does he have a cramp on his lips that prevents him from smiling from time to time? I was also surprised by Pepe Serna, the ill-fated Tony Montana's drug-deal partner in "Scarface", there was just something in his voice and accent that didn't quite match the lines he was supposed to shout. I was also surprised by how underused Julia and Braga were. These two Latin actors don't need many lines of dialogues to exude their talent (and Braga was an unforgettable femme fatale) but I wish there was some depth added to their relationship, that would have made that 'rape' scene less gratuitous at least. It was also fun to see these guys working for Puvloski and Storm (or Strom?) getting bullets in retribution, talk about insisting that crime doesn't pay. I was also disappointed by the way David's backstory didn't quite add up to his character... precisely because he doesn't even save Nick's ass.The film had so many flaws I lost track... but my presumption is that Eastwood did it for the money in the way that you honor a command, I read that he had to make a movie for Warner Bros and maybe after two art-house films ("White Hunter, Black Heart" and "Bird") he decided to loosen up a bit and have fun. I'm fine with his idea of having fun and at least, you can tell he put quite a budget, judging by the impressive quality of the stunts work. But there's a reason the film didn't quite take off with the box-office although it was a mild success, it's not because it faced the competition of "Home Alone" because action pictures like "Total Recall" or "Die Hard 2" did better, so maybe it had to be a not so good word-of-mouth. But it was still good enough to deliver what was expected to an audience who knew what to expect.It could be better given its talented director and its set of villains, it's unfortunate that they had to put so much effort on the hardest part and not tried to densify the story a little, but I'll end with the same nostalgic tone that opened this review, "The Rookie" wasn't a theater film but the perfect movie to rent in VHS for a fun Saturday afternoon.

I enjoy just about any Eastwood film and this was no different, the chemistry between Sheen and Eastwood was fun.Try it for yourself have the critics are egotists their like assholes everyone has one.

Watching this again after many years, it is something to notice that this movie was directed by Clint Eastwood. This may or may not come as a surprise, the man who would later find his movies in the Oscar ring. But Eastwood would make films with Eastwood as Eastwood (like Tom Cruise movies). In this case, he's Harry Callahan as far as the script cares, and this time his new partner is some rich kid. The story, formed from sticks and mud, is almost campy the way it avoids any originality whatsoever, EXCEPT for some brief action set pieces. The one thing I remembered the last time I watched this film was the crazy car chase sequence at the beginning of the film. Frankly there is nothing as good as that for the rest of the 2 hour running time. You get a sense that Raul Julia is swallowing his pride playing an ethnic stereotype bad guy. Weird, the official synopsis wants us to believe he is of German origin. But the other hoodlums that are part of his gang all look South American. Essentially scenes were created in this film so Eastwood could spout some tough guy lines. Even more, a whole character is concocted, a new partner (Charlie Sheen) that is wet behind the ears (what is that phrase supposed to mean anyway?). Eastwood gets to show him up. But guess what? Sheen has a couple tricks up his sleeve! OK, that's no surprise. The audience can sniff the "oh yeah" moment coming. In this case, Sheen can somehow perform complex motorcycle repair on a vintage Harley simply by twisting two fingers for a half second (sounds lame but not an exaggeration). So this movie is not trying too hard with character development. When Tom Skerritt shows up as Sheen's rich daddy, you could sense that maybe Skerritt had his hands dirty in this caper. Ah, but that was one re-write that never happened. Sheen has little charisma himself, so there is no chemistry between him and the love interest (a hot looking Laura Flynn Boyle). All the bad guys do extra mean bad guy things ("I'm going to make this EXTRA painful"). Such dialogue and goofy tension-building has pretty much the opposite effect. I wasn't nervous, I was laughing. The endless clichés begin with the police captain telling Eastwood "you're off the case!" Grrrr! Eastwood is then introduced to his new partner, who he thinks is some assistant. Hilarity ensues! Nobody survives this unscathed. Eastwood is very shallow, since it seems he is impervious to any real ramifications of his misbehaviour. Even his new partner gets in on some unsportsmanslike conduct when he massacres members of a local bar and then torches the place.As I mentioned, the technical feats come way of the more original action scenes. Very few films go through the time and effort to stage elaborate action scenes at night. It requires the added obstacle of lighting several blocks of highways or streets. The crew must sleep during the day for sometimes weeks. As for the rest of the movie, it an embarrassment for all involved.

The film uses all the most well worn tricks of the "buddy-buddy / old cop - rookie cop / poor down on his luck - rich privileged / rule breaking - rule following" action movies ever made and is at least honest enough not to try to pretend to be anything else. Clint Eastwood is an interesting choice in such a film and his performance is clearly better than the film actually demands. The Schwarzenegger like one-liners are made more amusing when coming from his lips although the crafting of a new catch phrase "You gotta light?" doesn't quite work. Charlie Sheen is mean, moody and handsome and isn't really required to be anything else, the dad-son "You were never there for me!" scenes are an embarrassment to be perfectly frank and could well have been omitted from the film.The story is simple about a veteran cop and his new partner, Charlie Sheen going on the rampage in LA for car thieves while in the pursuit of revenge for the murder of Eastwood's partner early on film by the leader of the criminal gang. It has Eastwood on good form with some good one liners and he is a joy to watch as he shows he is not over the hill and does what he does best in a cop role. Sheen puts on a good show and is convincing as a wet behind the ears rookie but soon breaks free from this when he goes berserk, as taught by his mentor Eastwood. The action scenes are great with some ferocious car chases, and none of the dodgy CGI you get theses days. The action scenes include a out of control car chase down the free way where a car transporter sheds it's load of luxury cars off the trailer into the traffic. The other stand out moment is when Eastwood and Sheen was escape a building ready to explode by driving out of the top floor window while the building blows up behind them. If you love Eastwood and his demeanor and quips and you love a good cop story this is something you need to see in one form or another.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.