“Sudden Impact” sees Clint Eastwood reprise his iconic role of
homicide detective ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan. This time, he is on the hunt of a woman
who is giving a pistol vasectomy to the victims, as one of the cops puts it aptly
in the movie. Harry also has to save his ass from being fragged by Italian
mafia and San Francisco mobsters who have had enough of him.
The movie borrows heavily from the brutal “I spit on your
grave” and “Ms. 45”. There is the obligatory molestation and revenge. The only differentiators between the aforementioned movies and this is the presence of
Eastwood as the misogynist, macho cop.
Its tagline is” There are two killers in the city. One of
them is Dirty Harry”. Eastwood kills enough gangbangers to fill a stadium. He is
chastised by his seniors, the judiciary and everyone else about the collateral
damage which the city suffers during his shooting sprees but he, predictably, ignores
them and remains to the end a man on a mission.
For me, Michael Connelly is the best writer of police procedural thrillers. None of his Bosch books has been adopted so far for the big
screen. Eastwood in his prime would have been a cinch to play the character because
there are many similarities between the two. Off course, Bosch is no trigger
happy cop and there is an element of detection, he being a detective and all. However,
Eastwood’s intensity and the dismay which he displays so masterfully would have
lent the all too human air to an all too real character. But I digress.
The first movie in the franchise was directed by the master
Don Siegel. It was the best followed by The Enforcer and Magnum Force. The
quality of the films went down as their number went on increasing. This is
easily the worst movie of the series barring Dead Pool which I haven’t seen so
far.
The script is predictable right up to the last scene. Besides
lifting motives from other movies, the bright points are some dialogues, mostly
disparaging Harry, which were certainly amusing. However, this tries to ride
more on Eastwood’s stardom and the aura around the character rather than
offering anything new to the viewer besides pain behind the eyes and in the heart
for the near two hours watching this sub-par action/thriller. Besides starring,
Eastwood also directs this and does a competent job as usual. However, I believe
this is one of the few movies on his filmography he would not be real proud of.
This is recommended only for the diehard Eastwood fans. He
still remains one of the my favorite actors/directors and I would risk my
sanity but definitely watch the last of the Dirty Harry movies, Dead Pool. Only
for him.
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