Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Striking Distance’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The evolution of the detective/crime film never ceases to amaze me. These days the stories told about crime fighters are in the same vein as Michael Mann's Heat, in that they are cerebral and detailed when it comes to both the characters and the plot as well, but there was a time when this simply wasn't the case.

Much of the older detective fare helped establish the notion of a 'tough as nails' gumshoe, the kind of guy who doesn't take any crap from anybody and always gets his man. But the times change, audiences wanted something different out of our characters and here we are. But once in a while, a film comes out that harkens back to those olden days and one such film that tries its best to pay homage to the hardboiled detectives of old was Striking Distance.

Now the plot for this film was pretty standard fare, Bruce Willis plays Detective Tom Hardy, a Pittsburgh Police gumshoe that suffers heavily early on in the film. Not only is he considered a snitch by his fellow officers for making it known that his cousin Jimmy uses excessive force on the job, but he loses his father in a high-speed chase with a notorious serial killer known as the 'Polish Hill Strangler' and Jimmy eventually commits suicide because of his fall from grace. Years later Tom has stepped away from the Detective life to handle river rescue and while it seems as though the rest of career will be filled with silence and solitude, the Polish Hill Strangler has returned, and is working hard to make Tom's life hell...

While that seems like a plot that should be engaging and fascinating, it doesn't quite work in this film, because this movie struggles with finding an identity. At times it is a creepy thriller, and how Polish Hill taunts the police is fascinating and the fact he wants revenge on Tom is equally as cool, but all of that is quickly washed away by two glaring problems...the fact that it bathes itself in an homage cologne and the bravado in this film is just a little too over the top. Every police officer in this film is raging cop stereotype, borrowing from the best but transforming them into angry, angry men who basically shout at one another and trade barbs about doing someone's wife rather than I don't know...trying to solve a murder case? Granted there is a conspiracy as to why this anger and investigative foot dragging occurs, but by the time the predictable conclusion to that conspiracy is revealed, you simply don't care anymore.

Yet, despite the rough storytelling presented to you, and the over the top everything that comes with it, you find yourself hooked upon every single moment that this movie has to offer. This really is a classic case of a film that is so bad that it turns out to be good, because morbid curiosity takes over immediately and well, you're compelled to know what's going to happen next, how silly is it going to be and you wonder how hard you are going to laugh. That alone makes it worth the price of admission, but for the more hardcore detective film fan, you'll find a few gems here and there when it comes to actors portraying gumshoes since the always sublime Tom Atkins pops up in this one, along with the late Brion James. Either way, see this one when you're looking for a slice of brainless and fun entertainment and go into it with zero expectations regardless of what genre you love, and you'll come out of this one with a smile on your face.

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