Beyond Suspicion

For a Jack Scalia outing this is as decent as it gets. Sure it's yet another one of those "dirty cop" movies, but it works. If you haven't seen any of Jack Scalia's direct-to-video movies where he plays the burnt out lone cop then this might be the one to see.

Scalia stars as Detective Vince Morgan. A cop on the force suspected of being dirty. He and his partner raid a drug manufacturing warehouse unaware to Morgan his partner has been working with local reporter Karen Rikehardt (Stepfanie Kramer) leaking her a story. They go in and she's following behind the action. It's not long after his partner and the snitch inside end up dead and guess who's fingered. RikeHardt just might have the evidence of who did it to boot.

Typical late night fare. In fact, I've seen it two or three times by now. The story is serviceable and the conclusion is solid. What keeps the movie together is it's attempt at giving depth to otherwise routine characters. Rikehardt (Kramer) is caught in a messy separation with her ex involving her daughter and torn between her feelings for someone and doing the right thing. While Morgan (Scalia) slowly comes apart at the seams. Though not a golden offering of the type, it's marginally better than the stuff I'm accustomed to seeing on the tube.

Photo journalist Karen Rikehardt (Stepfanie Kramer) stakes out a warehouse where the police is about to raid a criminal gang after a tip from police detective Jerry Moon. Karen is in the room when Jerry is murdered. While she doesn't see the killer, she may have photographed him. Police Serg. Morgan (Jack Scalia) confiscates her film. Internal affairs Capt. Townsend suspects Morgan as a dirty cop and gets him suspended. Morgan is told in a mysterious phone call to get close to Karen. She is divorced with a daughter named Sara. He rescues her from two escaped prisoners and they begin a sexual relationship.

This is a TV police drama that isn't that compelling. The writing is stiff. The dialog has no color. The story is flat and has no tension. It's a late night TV movie with some B-level action and a little cheesy soft-rock nudity. The acting from the two leads is functional. I would suggest skipping this.