STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
A felon (James Remar) is busted out of jail and it falls on the head of a cranky cop (Nick Nolte) to catch him. Following a tense stand-off, his partner is shot by the convict and in order to find him he must team up with another convict (Eddie Murphy) to catch him. But right from the off, this is one partnership that ain't gonna flow like a boat.
At just 21, Murphy took his stand-up comedy act and took to the big screen with veteran Nolte for this raucious cop thriller. The movie also introduced the likes of notable character actor Remar as well as David Patrick 'Sully' Kelly in a supporting role.
It has (for it's time, anyway) an interesting angle of a good guy and a bad guy coming together and what would happen if they came to depend on each other. Murphy's character indeed isn't awfully likable and an unfortunate stereotype for some black characters in cinema, but Nolte gives a good turn as the hard-assed, cranky cop. The movie has it's 'buddy-buddy' angle down to a tee, but it seems to be too indulgent of this and seems to forget that it was actually meant to be an action movie and concentrate on the action (of which there's hardly any!) making it become rather boring after a while.
If you're looking for a good 'buddy-buddy' cop movie, you've come to the right place. But if you want this and lots of exciting action, Lethal Weapon worked the formula much better five years later in 1987. ***
A felon (James Remar) is busted out of jail and it falls on the head of a cranky cop (Nick Nolte) to catch him. Following a tense stand-off, his partner is shot by the convict and in order to find him he must team up with another convict (Eddie Murphy) to catch him. But right from the off, this is one partnership that ain't gonna flow like a boat.
At just 21, Murphy took his stand-up comedy act and took to the big screen with veteran Nolte for this raucious cop thriller. The movie also introduced the likes of notable character actor Remar as well as David Patrick 'Sully' Kelly in a supporting role.
It has (for it's time, anyway) an interesting angle of a good guy and a bad guy coming together and what would happen if they came to depend on each other. Murphy's character indeed isn't awfully likable and an unfortunate stereotype for some black characters in cinema, but Nolte gives a good turn as the hard-assed, cranky cop. The movie has it's 'buddy-buddy' angle down to a tee, but it seems to be too indulgent of this and seems to forget that it was actually meant to be an action movie and concentrate on the action (of which there's hardly any!) making it become rather boring after a while.
If you're looking for a good 'buddy-buddy' cop movie, you've come to the right place. But if you want this and lots of exciting action, Lethal Weapon worked the formula much better five years later in 1987. ***