The Dead Pool (1988)

Genres

Action, Crime, Thriller

Director

Buddy Van Horn

Country

USA

Cast

Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, Evan C. Kim, David Hunt, Michael Currie, Michael Goodwin, Jim Carrey, Anthony Charnota, Ronnie Claire Edwards, Louis Giambalvo, Diego Chairs, Charles Martinet, Patrick Van Horn, Shawn Elliott, Bill Wattenberg, Marc Alaimo, Justin Whalin, Harry Demopoulos

Storyline

This time around, Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) must stop a game called the Dead Pool, some sort of contest to murder celebrities which includes himself as a target.

Opinion

The Dirty Harry franchise has been such a rollercoaster! One minute you are up in the sky, the next one you are 20,000 leagues under the sea. And like all rollercoasters, it ended on the ground with The Dead Pool, another mediocre entry. 

The story isn't particularly good - actually, it's probably the most stupid of the entire franchise - and it doesn't even have interesting plot twists and still it managed to keep me interested throughout the film. It's probably because it started quite well and it was interesting at first so I wanted to know how it would end. Spoiler, it's as predictable as it can be.

The characters aren't that good either. They lack development, some of them are nothing but stereotypes and are also quite uninteresting, especially the villain, portrayed by Liam Neeson. He's so dull, he's easily one of the worst villains ever. There's a new character, however, that is a breath of fresh air, Patricia Clarkson's TV reporter Samantha Walker. She is always a pleasure to watch and she is so delicate she is the perfect "partner" for Callahan. 

Still, overall, the film is pretty forgettable with the only exception of Jim Carrey playing a drugged rock star. That Welcome to the Jungle scene sure was something. Too bad his character dies after 5 seconds. Oh, there's also a cool-ish remote control car chase. It's not spectacular but it's the best The Dead Pool has to offer in terms of action.