El principiante

This movie is a very standard cop buddy action film. A veteran cop is assigned to work with a rookie cop to catch a crook who killed the vet's old partner. This is so standard of action film's but that doesnt matter, its still good mindless fun. I though the action was good in this film, especially the opening car chase, and I thought Eastwood gave s good performance and was even funny at times. I am not a big Charlie Sheen fan but I thought he was ok in this one, and Raul Julia was solid as the bad guy. 3.5/5. Recommended, even though its like so many action film's its very enjoyable.

This wasn't ever meant to be a deep dive into the Serpico psyche of cops!

Just a simple action/buddy movie with a few laughs and some ok action.

Julia is great in it though.

From memory (hope I'm not mistaken) Sheen was basically offered the movie by Eastwood to help straighten him out as his recent success was reportedly going to his nose.

And yes the real crime committed in this movie IS the colour of the car!!!

A considerably generic cop movie, with some clichés and too typical characters (experience vicious policeman and his naive and idealistic young partner), mildly funny gags and not always good dialogues, and lot of action with cars, shootings and explosions. Certainly not among the best of Eastwood's films, due an uninspired shallow script, not to mention how problematic are those stories in which policemen who "bypass" law and kill surrended criminals are the heroes, and all the Latin characters are the bad guys. However, Eastwood himself is nice in his cigar-smoker character, who is indeed quite similar to other hot-headed policemen he played in his career, such as Wes Block, Frank Horrigan, Terry McCaleb, and obviously "dirty" Harry Callahan. Besides, that, the Latin criminal core duo is amazing: cold Raul Julia and gorgeous badass "Bond-girl-like" Sonia Braga. Then 25-year Charlie Sheen completes the unusual top cast by playing the role that names the movie (and his wife character, then 20-years old Lara Flynn Boyle, was beautiful and had good thrilling moments).

"The Rookie" 1990 is a fairly good movie, but it's not great. Strangely, both Eastwood and Sheen delivered their lines terribly: awkward, lame, and uninterested. Sonia Braga isn't all that great in this movie either. Lara Flynn Boyle is so hot, as usual, and I forgot to rate her acting. Raul Julia seems to be the only one capable of saying his lines convincingly and with menace. When a movie is loaded with great, famous actors, and they are doing badly, I am thinking someone else is to blame, and I'm looking at Clint Eastwood. Other than the stiff acting, the movie is fun to watch, and entertaining. When David finally gets mad, and goes off on a mission to rescue Nick, you find yourself saying, "It's about time!" And mentally, you feel yourself saddling up your horse. // The Bushwacker 8/28/2021.

I know, I know. "The Rookie" is a critically lambasted action film, and from what I've read from the other IMDb users, it's considered one of the worst films since "Ishtar"! But, I'll cut "The Rookie" some slack, because I happen to enjoy this flick pretty much. Yeah, the dialogue is a bit crappy, especially by Pepe Serna's lines; he jitters while he talks most of the length of time of the movie!

Well anyway, I thought it is a pretty enjoyable cop drama, due to the funny chemistry between Eastwood and Sheen, who do great Mel Gibson/Danny Glover impressions. The action is intense, and the suspense is quite strong, too. "The Rookie" delivers the goods for fans of the action genre, but for those who want a more logical movie, avoid "The Rookie".