La recluta

Some people can dislike Charlie Sheen or Clint Eastwood. Of course, there are some reasons to dislike every man - maybe except Jesus Christ! But such negatively preconceived opinions can not make a real picture.

Here we have a movie of an average plot class, but, methinks, with good actor playing. Clint is perfect as a skilled and dried cop (just as in the '88 Dirty Harry series, 'The Dead Pool' - by the way, one of the best from the collection, maybe even better than 'Magnum Force'), and Sheen is good as a police neophyte. Their relationship is quite intriguing and is shown pretty good!

This is not Shakespeare's work, no one shall expect something swashbuckling from this movie: it is just a relaxing film to 'take a couple of Budweiser, belch twice and go to bed' - or how Clint Eastwood exactly said to describe a good evening. Very optimistic and amusing film. Such movies must be!

David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen) is a new detective in the LAPD. He's haunted by the guilt over the death of his brother. Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) is a detective investigating Strom (Raul Julia)'s car thief ring. His partner is killed by Strom and the case is transfered to homicide. He is given Ackerman as his new partner and he refuses to let go of the case against Strom.

It's a buddy cop drama with a lifeless buddy cop relationship. Eastwood is rehashing his Dirty Harry persona. Sheen doesn't play off of it well. He's too cold. It lacks humor and it lacks chemistry. There are some fine action stunt work but there isn't much else.

What the heck are these people who are putting this movie down talkin about? This movie is a lot of fun, not super original, but still a lot of fun. Its a typical cop buddy movie but still a WELL MADE cop buddy movie. The scene where Charlie Sheen beats the crap out of an entire bar full of scuzball bikers is great! "C'mon, mutherf'ers! C'mon, mutherf'ers! C'mon!" Charlie keeps screaming this like a madman while he beats the bejeezus outta the bikers, and it rocks. Clint Eastwood directed some of his best action scenes in this flick as well. Anyone who likes a good old fashioned Hollywood popcorn roller coaster ride movie with plenty of snappy one liners will definitely dig this underrated gem!

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".

It's clear that upon watching "The Rookie" that Clint Eastwood's heart simply was not with this project - either as a director or an actor. Possibly he only decided to do this "commercial" project so that Warner Brothers would green-light the less commercial "White Hunter Black Heart" that came out the same year. Whatever the reason, Eastwood seems to be going on autopilot in front of and behind the camera. His performance here lacks conviction, and he comes across as a cranky old man instead of a man with grit and determination. And as a director, he slips up multiple times. The action sequences are dull when they should be spectacular - the freeway chase, for example, is flat despite all the vehicles that get destroyed. The night scenes and often the interior scenes are dark and murky, making it hard to see all the details about what's going on.

And what's the deal with the dream sequence at the opening of the movie? In fact, there are a number of script boo-boos that make me surprised that Eastwood didn't demand a rewrite. Why doesn't Eastwood call for backup at the opening action sequence? Why is Raul Julia's past and motives never properly spelled out, and why is Eastwood so determined to bust him? Why do Eastwood and Sheen hardly have any real conversations between them instead of clichéd "tough cop" talk? Also, the slow-moving story at times feels like the writers were writing it as the movie was being shot, instead of using a finished screenplay. It might also explain why key actions and scenes seem to be missing from the finished product.

What really annoyed me most about "The Rookie" was all the swearing. Don't get me wrong - I use the same words in my private life, and I have seen movies I've enjoyed with plenty of swearing. But here, every curse word comes across as forced, as if a child was making this movie and gleefully adding naughty language in an effort to appear tough. It's simply not convincing. Maybe with better direction and a heavily rewritten script, it could have worked. Those things probably would have greatly improved the rest of the movie as well.