After Mel Gibson's spectacular fall from grace, I left it a while before putting one of his films on. Then, one evening I felt like watching the original Lethal Weapon and couldn't finish it. The fact Gibson is playing quite an unhinged character coupled with his very public breakdown, I felt like the scene where he puts the gun in his mouth was real life B-roll.
The same sort of trepidation started to wave over me as it drew time to watch The Rookie. Regular readers may remember I purchased the Clint Eastwood '35 Years 35 Films' boxset Warner put out last year and am still making my way through that, one movie a week (I even plan to watch The Bridges Of Madison County, but may need some female company for that one), but the point is The Rookie also stars Charlie Sheen.
You don't need me to tell you about what has been going on with this guy the last few months. Probably the most out there, and again, public breakdown ever witnessed. I flit between loving the stuff he comes out with and being genuinely disturbed about what the guy is going through, and the fact it's in front of the entire world.
But to the film, and the presence of Sheen does not affect the film in any way now. Perhaps if it was about a drug addict who discovered the internet, things may be different.
The Rookie is perhaps one of the most predictable, generic buddy cop action films I have ever laid my eyes on. Clint Eastwood plays grizzled, veteran cop Harry Calla...sorry, I mean Nick Pulovski, who is intent on revenge after the murder of his old partner (who, in fairness, says nothing about any kind of impending retirement, but you know he's thinking it) and is partnered with straight laced rookie David Ackerman (Sheen), and together they go after the sociopathic German (Raul Julia, and it took me over an hour to figure out he was doing a German accent) who was responsible for the cop killing.
Change the names, maybe the location and it's the plot for about 300 other movies. The film almost has a checklist of cliches to tick off. We've had the murdered partner, there's the overcoming the odds to become a better person, the big bar fight, the insane car chase, the list goes on. There is the odd difference to the cookie cutter mold - the love interest of Raul Julia (Sonia Braga, also trying to be German, failing) is quite unhinged as we find out in one scene that is in amazing poor taste.
But for all this negativity, The Rookie is surprisingly watchable and it must be down to the cast. Eastwood (who also directs, which is strange considering how removed this is from stuff like Bird, Unforgiven etc.) speaks for himself, he is still one of the coolest actors to walk the planet. Have him in a film, and at least you have THAT. Sheen. I have always dug him as an actor, and he is fine in this. Raul Julia as the bad guy is as you'd expect (though not as bad as Street Fighter obviously), and you have smaller roles for Tom Skerrit and Xander Berkeley. The fact it's a strong cast almost makes the whole exercise forgivable.
Maybe it's all part of Clint's master plan. Make a film in every genre possible, after all he is eying a musical next! And this was the 'Cop Buddy Movie' entry in his filmography. And somehow, just somehow...it works.
***
Possibly the least original film I have watched in ages, but the stellar cast make something that is quite predictable just as watchable.
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