Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, Tom Skerrit
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 121 minutes
Clint Eastwood didn't tackle any serious themes or take any risks with The Rookie. The film is your by the numbers buddy cop film that was made purely for genre escapism. I have no issue with this at all because I love genre pictures and enjoy some good buddy humor along with my action sometimes. You also have to allow a serious filmmaker/actor like Eastwood to make a fun film every once and awhile. Unfortunately, The Rookie fails at being funny or exciting, the two biggest expectations of a buddy cop film.
The film fails in several areas in fact. The jokes never land like they should, the plot never excites or engages the viewer, and the chemistry between Charlie Sheen and Clint Eastwood is incredibly dull. For all of its faults, The Rookie still nails some bad ass moments and delivers several great action scenes. Eastwood's eye for action is at the top of his game in this film as cars crash into one another and air planes explode. Still, The Rookie can't make up for its mistakes despite its fun genre conventions.
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| Wisecracking Eastwood. |
Clint Eastwood is Detective Nick Puvolski (which sounds a bit like Walt Kowalski from Gran Torino). He is hot on the case of Strom (Raul Julia), a German felon leading up a grand theft auto organization. After Strom murders Puvolski's partner, he is assigned a new by the book partner, David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen). Puvolski and Ackerman start to locate Strom's money hideouts and slowly take all of Strom's product and money from him. Enraged, Strom kidnaps Puvolski and demands $2 million in ransom money for his life. It is now up to Ackerman to bend the rules in order to save Puvolski before Strom kills him.
My biggest gripe with The Rookie is that the comedy rarely works. Eastwood and Sheen have no chemistry with one another. While Eastwood plays it up to the camera and clearly has a lot of fun, Sheen maintains the same stone faced look and attitude for most of the film. I know his character is supposed to undergo a whole arc as he becomes a rule bender like Eastwood, but his character felt flat as far as his emotions and performance went. This is a real bummer because bad chemistry is a kiss of death to a buddy cop film. There are also numerous jokes and one liners that come crashing to the ground. Some of these attempts are so bad that I groaned out loud and had to cover up my eyes in order to not feel embarrassed.
The worst attempt at a joke takes place during the most awesome scene of the film. How is this possible you ask? Well, Eastwood and Sheen find themselves inside of a building that is about to explode. Therefore, Eastwood and Sheen hop into a car and drive it out of the building. It's a great stunt and arguably the highlight of the film. However, Eastwood ruins this scene by inserting a joke about buckling one's seat belt twice. As Sheen hops in the car, Eastwood tells him, "Buckle your seatbelt." Okay, that's funny, I like that line. Eastwood than floors the car out the window and the building explodes behind them. The film than cuts to a shot of the two in the car with a green screen explosion behind them and Eastwood says, "Buckle your seatbelt." Again. Why is this joke repeated twice in the same scene? It doesn't make any sense because it ruins the awesome and explosive stunt by cutting to a silly green screen shot of the actors in order to deliver a useless line. If Eastwood had kept the first line and than shown the stunt, it would have been a knock out action scene. Oh well.
Besides the script, I also blame the film's failure on Eastwood's style of filmmaking. Eastwood makes slow and steady films that usually have drama, action, and a little bit of comedy too. However, Eastwood's fortei as a filmmaker is minimalistic drama. The main goal of a buddy cop film is to entertain the audience with an exciting pace and to help them laugh along the way as well. Unfortunately, Eastwood's style of filmmaking is not suited for this kind of high octane and fun to watch genre. I believe that Eastwood's filmmaking tendencies did not gel with the typical buddy cop genre that audiences had been accustomed to in the 80's and early 90's. Let's face it, The Rookie cannot stack up to the humorous and energetic likes of Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, and 48 Hours.
It's also bizarre that The Rookie has numerous similarities to the Dirty Harry franchise which had just ended a mere two years before. Both Harry Callahan and Nick Puvolski are single detectives with a sense of humor and a no-nonsense attitude. They get in shootouts, car chases, fist fights, and even bed a woman every once in awhile. They also get the crap kicked out of them in one scene or another. Both characters have lieutenants that constantly berate them about breaking the rules and causing damage in order to stop criminals. And both characters are stationed in California; with Harry being in San Fran and Nick being in L.A. The Rookie is merely a more comical version of Dirty Harry where significant screen time is given to the buddy cop, that being Charlie Sheen's character.
Even though the performances don't work as well as they should, everyone is still watchable. Eastwood is clearly having a lot of fun as Nick Puvolski. He constantly smokes a cigar and asks nearly every character, "Do you got a light?" If I was into drinking games, than taking a shot every time Eastwood asks for a light would make for a fun one. And even though most of Eastwood's line delivery falls flat, he has a few bad ass zingers in there. It's Eastwood for goodness sakes, it's not like the guy is always on autopilot. He also gets to be especially bad ass in several fun scenes and action sequences.
My biggest gripe with The Rookie is that the comedy rarely works. Eastwood and Sheen have no chemistry with one another. While Eastwood plays it up to the camera and clearly has a lot of fun, Sheen maintains the same stone faced look and attitude for most of the film. I know his character is supposed to undergo a whole arc as he becomes a rule bender like Eastwood, but his character felt flat as far as his emotions and performance went. This is a real bummer because bad chemistry is a kiss of death to a buddy cop film. There are also numerous jokes and one liners that come crashing to the ground. Some of these attempts are so bad that I groaned out loud and had to cover up my eyes in order to not feel embarrassed.
The worst attempt at a joke takes place during the most awesome scene of the film. How is this possible you ask? Well, Eastwood and Sheen find themselves inside of a building that is about to explode. Therefore, Eastwood and Sheen hop into a car and drive it out of the building. It's a great stunt and arguably the highlight of the film. However, Eastwood ruins this scene by inserting a joke about buckling one's seat belt twice. As Sheen hops in the car, Eastwood tells him, "Buckle your seatbelt." Okay, that's funny, I like that line. Eastwood than floors the car out the window and the building explodes behind them. The film than cuts to a shot of the two in the car with a green screen explosion behind them and Eastwood says, "Buckle your seatbelt." Again. Why is this joke repeated twice in the same scene? It doesn't make any sense because it ruins the awesome and explosive stunt by cutting to a silly green screen shot of the actors in order to deliver a useless line. If Eastwood had kept the first line and than shown the stunt, it would have been a knock out action scene. Oh well.
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| Live footage of Charlie Sheen at a bar this weekend. |
Besides the script, I also blame the film's failure on Eastwood's style of filmmaking. Eastwood makes slow and steady films that usually have drama, action, and a little bit of comedy too. However, Eastwood's fortei as a filmmaker is minimalistic drama. The main goal of a buddy cop film is to entertain the audience with an exciting pace and to help them laugh along the way as well. Unfortunately, Eastwood's style of filmmaking is not suited for this kind of high octane and fun to watch genre. I believe that Eastwood's filmmaking tendencies did not gel with the typical buddy cop genre that audiences had been accustomed to in the 80's and early 90's. Let's face it, The Rookie cannot stack up to the humorous and energetic likes of Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, and 48 Hours.
It's also bizarre that The Rookie has numerous similarities to the Dirty Harry franchise which had just ended a mere two years before. Both Harry Callahan and Nick Puvolski are single detectives with a sense of humor and a no-nonsense attitude. They get in shootouts, car chases, fist fights, and even bed a woman every once in awhile. They also get the crap kicked out of them in one scene or another. Both characters have lieutenants that constantly berate them about breaking the rules and causing damage in order to stop criminals. And both characters are stationed in California; with Harry being in San Fran and Nick being in L.A. The Rookie is merely a more comical version of Dirty Harry where significant screen time is given to the buddy cop, that being Charlie Sheen's character.
Even though the performances don't work as well as they should, everyone is still watchable. Eastwood is clearly having a lot of fun as Nick Puvolski. He constantly smokes a cigar and asks nearly every character, "Do you got a light?" If I was into drinking games, than taking a shot every time Eastwood asks for a light would make for a fun one. And even though most of Eastwood's line delivery falls flat, he has a few bad ass zingers in there. It's Eastwood for goodness sakes, it's not like the guy is always on autopilot. He also gets to be especially bad ass in several fun scenes and action sequences.
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| "Fasten your seatbelt!" |
It's hard to believe that there was a time when Charlie Sheen starred in action films. How the mighty have fallen. Anyways, Sheen maintains a monotone voice and stone face throughout most of the film. It isn't until the half way point when his character comes to life and undergoes an arc into badass-ery. Sheen's character surprisingly has the most depth of anyone else in the film. It is established early on that Ackerman accidentally let his brother fall to his death Vertigo style when he froze up while on a roof long ago. Since than, Ackerman has played by the rules and tortured himself with that death.
However, Puvolski teaches Ackerman to loosen up, dress casually, break the rules, and have fun with life. There's a great symbolic moment where Ackerman sets a bar on fire and walks over to his motorcycle. When he sits on it, he looks at his helmet and tosses it to the ground, thereby symbolizing his turn to the side of the bad ass cops who don't play safe. It's a great visual moment and a fun transformation as well. Regardless of The Rookie's lifeless comedy and dull plot, nobody can say that Eastwood didn't at least try a little bit with this film.
Our main villains are two Germans played by two Latin American actors, Sonia Braga and Raul Julia. There's no doubt about it, Julia and Braga are hear for their paychecks and just having fun. Their villains are very dull and probably some of the most underwhelming foes in all of Eastwood's filmography. The Rookie also contains arguably one of the worst and most awkward sex scenes in cinema history. When Braga's character has Puvolski tied up in a chair, she cuts up his face and full on rapes him! I kid you not. She sets up a camera and records herself raping Puvolski, who doesn't seem all that resistant. I am damn sure that Eastwood threw this scene into the film just so he could get his rocks off for a little bit. But my goodness. This is the worst scene in the film and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
It's no surprise that The Rookie's strong points are its great action sequences. Eastwood really pulled out all of the stops in order to make the stunt work as marvelous as possible. Unlike other Eastwood vehicles, The Rookie features a lot of explosions and car crashes. The opening action scene is an awesome car chase where Puvolski chases after a long semi-auto carrier with its car loader down. As Eastwood exchanges fire with the men on the carrier, they eventually star releasing cars from the carrier in order to take out Puvolski. However, all of the cars miss Puvolski and usually end up colliding with some poor innocents. This makes for some great vehicular stunt work as cars crash into one another and fly through the air. There is also a pretty cool fight scene where Ackerman snaps and finally becomes bad ass by beating the crap out of a bunch of bar patrons Seagal style with pool sticks and beer bottles.
It's no surprise that The Rookie's strong points are its great action sequences. Eastwood really pulled out all of the stops in order to make the stunt work as marvelous as possible. Unlike other Eastwood vehicles, The Rookie features a lot of explosions and car crashes. The opening action scene is an awesome car chase where Puvolski chases after a long semi-auto carrier with its car loader down. As Eastwood exchanges fire with the men on the carrier, they eventually star releasing cars from the carrier in order to take out Puvolski. However, all of the cars miss Puvolski and usually end up colliding with some poor innocents. This makes for some great vehicular stunt work as cars crash into one another and fly through the air. There is also a pretty cool fight scene where Ackerman snaps and finally becomes bad ass by beating the crap out of a bunch of bar patrons Seagal style with pool sticks and beer bottles.
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| Best buddies until the end. |
One of the blessings of The Rookie is that it is rated R. Therefore, you still get no nonsense kills, blood, and vulgar language. These things should be enough to help any action fan get through the film's dull moments and bad comical scenes. If Eastwood and Sheen had better chemistry, than their comedy may have come off more natural and felt less forced. But alas, you win some and you lose some, and not even an icon like Eastwood can knock them out of the park every time. Even with this film's flaws, I still find it watchable. Eastwood is cool as usual and the stunt work is excellent. Recommend to the most die hard buddy cop and Eastwood fans.
Rating: 6/10 - While the comedy falters, the action hits the bullseye with this weak but commendable Eastwood actioner.
The Eastwood Breakdown:
Character Traits:
- Breaks rules established by superiors
- Sense of humor
- Immense love of cigars
- Hatred for color green on cars
Main Villain(s): Strom (main physical villain) / Liesl (secondary villain / right hand woman)
Kill Count: 4
- Puvolski shoots at a car thief who grabs another thief as a human shield.
- Puvolski snaps a henchman's neck as he hangs from an elevator shaft.
- Puvolski shoots at a henchman driving an airplane. The henchman seems alive but clearly wounded by the blood on his head. His dazed state causes him to drive his airplane into another and therefore explodes.
- Puvolski shoots Strom in the forehead.
Themes:
- Problem with authority/rules (as seen in Dirty Harry series, basically any cop role of Clint's)
- Buddy Cops (as seen in Dirty Harry series)
- Jazz Soundtrack (as heard in Dirty Harry, Tightrope, Bird, etc.)
- Automobiles (car chases and love of car culture also seen in Dirty Harry series and Gran Torino)
Cop or Cowboy?: Cop
Directed by Eastwood?: Check
Champion Bad Ass One Liner: When Puvolski and Ackerman hijack one of Strom's vehicles, the henchman inside says, "I saw you die!" Puvolski recants, "Welcome to hell, ass hole."
Champion Bad Ass Moment: While I am sure some action fans may consider Charlie Sheen's bar fight to be the bad ass highlight of the film, I think that Clint driving the sports car out of the exploding building takes the cake for the bad ass moment. I also love that even after his car lands, he throws on the brakes and slides through a window into another building! You get two great practical stunts in a matter of seconds. That's bad ass to me.
Poster: The Rookie has a poster that is better than the film. I love the floating heads and random red lines that run through the characters' faces. I also love the black background, random revolver, and exploding plane near cop cars. This is definitely one I'd hang in my room even though the film isn't all that great.
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