Loose Cannons

Loose Cannons is a film long lost in time & if ever mentioned it's not liked at all, but I've seen it & totally enjoyed this rare oddity of a buddy-cop comedy thriller.

First off I'm a life-long fan of Dan Aykroyd & Gene Hackman!!!

I grew up watching the comic genius Aykroyd with Classic's such as Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2 (my all-time favorite movie) & Trading Places & Dragnet (my 2nd fave film of all-time) & Coneheads & My Stepmother is an Alien & Sneakers & Blues Brothers & Nothing But Trouble & Spies Like Us & more. Aykroyd was a comforting face to me growing up & he's one of my top 5 fave actors of all-time.

Gene Hackman is one of the greatest actors in all of Cinema History & has one of the greatest filmographies in all of Cinema History. I also grew up watching Hackman in The French Connection, The French Connection part 2, The Bird Cage, Enemy of the State, Behind Enemy Lines, The Poseiden Adventure, Absolute Power & many more. Hackman was always a standout actor playing good or bad roles , he was always brilliant on screen.

Here we get a rather dark but ridiculously hilarious buddy-cop comedy thriller with Hackman playing a tough, sarcastic & rebel wreck of a cop who gets teamed up with the genius of Dan Aykroyd as a very disturbed man from mental health healing safe haven. Aykroyd is on comic genius form here as he is a riot of hilarious character impersonations whenever he gets too stressed in a dangerous situation. Aykroyd is fantastic in this very tricky & exhausting role. The cops need Aykroyd's brilliant mind to help solve a strange crime that consists of murders, Nazi's, Secret Agents & a Porno starring Hitler!!! The story is definitely a unique one. Directed by Bob Clark (Black Christmas, Porky's) who created a very different type of the 80's buddy-cop movie & put in real looking bloody violence mixed with manic comic moments that all seems to gel together fine. Our miss-matched cops have to solve murders & dodge bullets from Nazi agents as they try to track down a Hitler porno film.

Aykroyd actually puts in a fantastic performance as he's a man suffering as a schizophrenic with many personalities & he handles it all like the professional he is as it could've easily been very cringing to watch but he's genuinely hilarious. There's heart to in Aykroyd's role as we later find out he's this way because of a time he works as an undercover Narc cop that was captured & brutally tortured for days & that sent him over the edge. There's definitely a darkness to the film as much as there is a lightness to it. The supporting cast is great especially a very enjoyable Dom DeLuise.

Loose Cannons is definitely a very rare & unique buddy-cop film that's loaded with hilarious moments (the funniest being when Hackman spends the night at Aykroyd's place lol) & full of non-stop action & moves into a chase thriller.

There's loads to enjoy in Loose Cannons & we get the genius pairing of Hackman & Aykroyd.

Gene Hackman.

Poor old Gene Hackman.

We just lost him here recently and this is one of the few movies of his that I haven't seen.

It's because of him it's only rated as high as it is.

That and the late director Bob Clark.

Because Dan Aykroyd, who I love dearly, almost singlehandedly destroyed this entire movie.

His character is so obnoxious.

So over the top.

So ridiculous.

I highly doubt that guy could continue to be in law enforcement investigations with that behavior, that instability.

But I know this is a comedy. So, I get it. But he's just not funny.

David Alan Grier is in this.

You forget how long he's been around.

And Tobin Bell too.

Wow. The dude from Saw.

I know Bob Clark made some stinkers. Especially, sadly, towards the end of his career and his life cut tragically short.

But this movie just isn't very good.

It should've been.

With Hackman and Aykroyd and the direction of Clark.

It should've been gold.

It's not.

Sigh....

Well, I had forgotten I had already seen this movie once, but I had forgotten how terrible it was.

The bad: this movie (labeled as a "comedy") simply is NOT funny whatsoever. And I mean I did not laugh once. Nor did I smile. Nor was there the tinniest smirk on my face.

Why did this movie fail so terribly. Well, it isnt a slapstick movie and it isnt an action movie either. So it is trying to mix two movie genres and ending up being neither.

Not any good then? The camera work is allright. It doesnt look like it was a movie that was rushed or was battered with financial difficulties. They really tried to make a decent comedy, but they failed. Full stop.

Both my son Jack and I very much enjoy this film. The critics have given this film a bad review but we don't care. Gene Hackman's presence as always lifts the film and Dan Aykroyd makes a good foil; a sort of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Not over violent with some good jokes. Ronny Cox, always watchable. Paul Koslo makes a good heavy. Come on critics, lighten up!!

I'm 15. I first remember seeing this film along time ago when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Now after renting from the video store I had a chance to view it again.

Gene Hackman plays Mac, a cop who is reluctantly partnered with Ellis (Dan Aykroyd) to solve a series of grisly murders. Ellis also happens to have Multiple Personality Disorder and when faced with violence he begins to go into these alternate personalities, mostly characters from popular television shows. Back to the story, the killer behind the murders is a German named Von Metz (Robert Prosky) who has employed a group of bloodthirsty hitmen to kill anyone who has viewed a snuff film that contains the death of Hitler at the hands of Von Metz. Now Von Metz, if he can get the film off the black market, will almost certainly be elected as chancellor of West Germany.

Now a lot of people have dissed this movie for numerous reasons; I only agree with a few of them. Yes, I think Dan Aykroyd's character could have been pulled off by somebody better, like Robin Williams. This movie isn't really all that violent, yes people get shot a lot, but that is about it, even though many people say it is. Also many people say this movie isn't really that funny, I found myself laughing quite a few times.

I give it a 6/10