I hesitate to instantly, right out of the gate, damn a movie with faint praise, but the recently released to Blu-ray Bruce Willis action flick Striking Distance… isn't bad. At least, in hindsight it isn't. Oh sure, the movie wasn't well-received and even today isn't memorable (except maybe for the appearance of Robert Pastorelli, who, to me, will always be Eldin), but it's not the disaster some would have you believe.
Directed by Rowdy Harrington (Road House), Striking Distance has Bruce Willis as Detective Tom Hardy, a member of the Pittsburgh police. The outset of the film finds Hardy having "ratted out" his cousin, Detective Jimmy Detillo (Pastorelli) for mistreating a suspect. Hardy is also busy trying to track down a serial murderer. In pretty short order, the film finds Detillo jumping off a bridge in order to commit suicide and the serial killer arrested.
The main story of the film actually gets going at that point, picking up two years after those events. Hardy now works river rescue, has a serious drinking problem, and neither commands nor receives any respect from other officers. However, someone is committing murders similar to the ones from two years ago, and taunting Hardy (so Hardy believes) with the bodies. An obsessed Hardy goes after this new killer full bore, not caring whom he leaves in his wake.
All in all, it's pretty generic stuff. Willis turns in the sort of solid, down-on-his-luck cop performance that we've all gotten used to seeing from him (think John McClane-lite). Sarah Jessica Parker appears as Hardy's new river rescue partner and love interest, in a role in which she seems completely out of place having since done Sex and the City. She's not bad here, it just is an odd place to see her.
In fact, Parker isn't the only big-name talent that appears in the film. The cast of supporting characters is full of well-known actors including: Dennis Farina, John Mahoney, Andre Braugher, Timothy Busfield, and Tom Sizemore. Each and every one of them delivers in the film.
Article comments