Jack Reed 4

I tuned into this movie solely on account of the charisma of Brian Dennehy...and I was glad that I did.

What starts off as a drive-by sexist shooting turns into a hunt for villains, backed by City Hall, formidable in cunning, ruthlessness, and readiness to kill women, children and cops - like Jack Reed (Dennehy).

This is a cop-opera that elects not to do it by rote...the plot is full of twists and ironies, most of them, plausible. I especially appreciated the comeuppance of the main villain.

There are one or two formulaic spots, our hero hands in his badge at one point, the heroine gets caught red-handed by one of the villains, (but escapes in most novel fashion, I, for one,. will never hold up a woman at gunpoint, again)which is why I voted but 9 points: this movie is, however 2 hours of entertainment for lovers of the genre.

Once again a t.v. movie (based on real events) has scored with me. Its success makes me ponder again on the dearth of watchable "theatre" movies on cable t.v. Oft-seen ancient warhorses, and newer box-office duds is our lot. I guess one can only watch half-decent movies these days by forking out ridiculous sums on pay-t.v. No wonder so many of us are forsaking the tube for our computers!