Released: September 17th, 1993
Starring: Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Siezmore, Robert Pastorelli
Writer/Director: Rowdy Herrington and Marty Kaplan/Rowdy Herrington
Description: Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop, and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted then to river duty, the killer taunts Tom.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
Ah, when Bruce Willis was a legitimate action star. For those too young to remember, Mr. Willis at one time was hired to play these roles, not be an over-acting parody of them. Most notably starring in the two greatest Christmas films of our generation, Die Hard and Die Hard 2.
"Striking Distance" is a forgotten "gem" from the early 90s that had one of the most ridiculous twist at the end. Willis stars as Det. Tom Hardy, who is investigating the Polish Hill Strangler murders, while also being the key witness in his partner and cousin's (Really?) police brutality trail. Prior to the policeman's ball and after the conviction of his cousin, Jimmy Detillo (Pastorelli), Hardy's father is killed following a high speed chase with the Strangler. Hardy's insistence that the killer was a cop and not the man they arrested for the crime, coupled with the suicide of Jimmy, earns him a demotion to "river duty".
For most people, that explanation of the early plot doesn't ring a bell, but mention it's the movie where Willis plays a boat cop, and every one suddenly remembers. To be honest, that's all that should be remembered about this film. Just like "Twisted" before it, this movie -- despite being older -- follows the same cliches as every other film of the genre. Lone wolf detective tries to investigate a crime that every one else believes was committed by someone else, and when they discover the truth, it is a twist that they never saw coming. In "Striking Distance's" case, the twist was that the cousin wasn't dead, but he was indeed, the Strangler himself. Oh, no, they couldn't stop themselves there, Jimmy's father, Nick Detillo (Farina) killed Hardy's father to cover up his son's crime.
The writers not only had one twist ending, but two (three if you count Parker's IAB double agent/Hardy's lover storyline) that are ridiculous and never explained. But what can you expect from a writing team named Rowdy and Marty, I mean seriously, the only person who should call themselves "Rowdy" is Roddy Piper. And no surprise that "Rowdy" also directed "Road House", which is just as ridiculous as this film. I'm sure I'll find a lot of these, but once again it looks like the writers just went by a template and filled in blanks for character name, location and dialogue. Every action piece and investigation scene was straight out of every law enforcement movie ever made.
Willis didn't help matters either as he played a sadder version of John McClane, and casting Parker as his love interest didn't do the film any favors. The acting overall was average, and very much monotone, except for the freak out by Danny Detillo (Sizemore) at the police party. It was a border paycheck performance for most of the actors involved.
"Striking Distance" will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: It's the movie about boat cops. No matter how small a part the actual river duty played in the movie, that will always be the lasting memory of the film. And one final plea, stop casting Parker as a romantic lead, no one finds her remotely sexy -- even Matthew Broderick.
Rating: 5/10 -- Should only be sought out if you have an obsession to watch every Bruce Willis film ever made, or you were doing some crazy project where you were watching a movie a day, but who would do that? Nothing really off putting about it, but it would be a last resort on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
