I was shocked when I looked at the reviews for "The Rookie". It sounded like a decent cop film...but oh my goodness did it suck...and after more than 20,000 reviews on IMDb I cannot recall saying that a movie sucked before...but this one sure did!
The first half of the film isn't bad. In many ways it's like a Dirty Harry Film. Sure, he's in Los Angeles instead of San Francisco and is working grand theft auto duty instead of homicide but otherwise it feels like a Dirty Harry film...especially when Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) has his partner killed early in the story. Pulovski vows to destroy the man behind this...a nasy guy played by Raoul Julia. But to do so, he's stuck breaking in Ackerman (Charlie Sheen)...a rookie.
Up until Pulovski gets kidnapped, the story wasn't bad at all. Then, I can only assume the studio hired chimps to finish writing the story. Instead of making any sense at all, the story simply degraded to a juvenile story with a bazillion dollars spent on special effects and explosions. Here are just a few of the incredibly inane and awful moments that made by head ache:
Ackerman is shot from about three feet away with what looks like a .357 Magnum handgun. He's shaken up but just fine because he's wearing a bullet-proof vest!! His ribs should have been shattered and there should have been internal bleeding...if he was lucky!
Ackerman goes into a bar with about 60 nasty gang members and proceeds to beat them up en masse. Then, he lights the place on fire. There never are any repercussions for this and by the end of the movie, Ackerman is STILL on the police force.
Pulovski is handcuffed into a chair and so the psychotic killer lady decides this is the perfect time to have sex with him. Mmmm...yeah.
Ackerman realizes his wife is in the house and in danger. So, he just drives his motorcycle THROUGH the door and he and the cycle seem just fine!
After Ackerman rescues Pulovski, they drive a Mercedes through the warehouse and out a window from what looks like the 3rd or 4th floor...and are just fine when they land!
I could go on and on...but you have the general idea. Tons of stupid and impossible stunts and everything works out just find by the end of the film. Overall, a brain-numbingly bad film...perhaps the worst of Eastwood's career.
The first half of the film isn't bad. In many ways it's like a Dirty Harry Film. Sure, he's in Los Angeles instead of San Francisco and is working grand theft auto duty instead of homicide but otherwise it feels like a Dirty Harry film...especially when Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) has his partner killed early in the story. Pulovski vows to destroy the man behind this...a nasy guy played by Raoul Julia. But to do so, he's stuck breaking in Ackerman (Charlie Sheen)...a rookie.
Up until Pulovski gets kidnapped, the story wasn't bad at all. Then, I can only assume the studio hired chimps to finish writing the story. Instead of making any sense at all, the story simply degraded to a juvenile story with a bazillion dollars spent on special effects and explosions. Here are just a few of the incredibly inane and awful moments that made by head ache:
Ackerman is shot from about three feet away with what looks like a .357 Magnum handgun. He's shaken up but just fine because he's wearing a bullet-proof vest!! His ribs should have been shattered and there should have been internal bleeding...if he was lucky!
Ackerman goes into a bar with about 60 nasty gang members and proceeds to beat them up en masse. Then, he lights the place on fire. There never are any repercussions for this and by the end of the movie, Ackerman is STILL on the police force.
Pulovski is handcuffed into a chair and so the psychotic killer lady decides this is the perfect time to have sex with him. Mmmm...yeah.
Ackerman realizes his wife is in the house and in danger. So, he just drives his motorcycle THROUGH the door and he and the cycle seem just fine!
After Ackerman rescues Pulovski, they drive a Mercedes through the warehouse and out a window from what looks like the 3rd or 4th floor...and are just fine when they land!
I could go on and on...but you have the general idea. Tons of stupid and impossible stunts and everything works out just find by the end of the film. Overall, a brain-numbingly bad film...perhaps the worst of Eastwood's career.