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.

Even more painful though is the extraordinary Germanic accent employed by chief baddie Raul Julia, taking every opportunity to put a "z" in every word he snarls and grimaces from scene to scene, "Venn I goez, I goez wiz ze bang!" mind you topping even this is Sonia Braga as Julia's girlfriend Liesl. Never before have I seen such an unattractive supposedly sexy character and whose actual purpose in the film was puzzling to say the least. But going even one stage higher in the bad acting stakes is Pepe Serna as Eastwood's boss, hats off to this guy for managing to do every possible human emotion, from anger to fear to depression to joy without once changing his facial expression!

I'm probably being unfair here, as I say it is a good old fashioned cops and robbers action film and at least with Eastwood on board it is raised to a slightly higher level than most, but don't expect anything more than this.

The Rookie
Review date: 2005-06-27 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a really good film and it's about time it was released on DVD for the benefit of Region 2 viewers!
Come on Warner Bros. keep your UK Eastwood fans happy

The Rookie
Review date: 2004-07-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

What can I say? This is a good old classic action/drama copfilm that they dont make anymore. It is a joy to see Eastwood and Sheen togheter in a different kind of film. Eastwood does his old Dirty harry police and Sheen another at first unwillng hero. This movie is good, and it is a shame that it bombed when it hit the thearatesback in 1990. This is far better then the Lethal Weapon series and the latest Bondfilms. Buy it :)

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