Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993 TAG: 9404070007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His newest, ``Striking Distance,'' is such an incredible blunder that it almost makes ``Hudson Hawk'' and ``The Last Boy Scout'' look good by comparison. It's a ridiculously contrived yet predictable formula thriller. The plot is so absurd that at a recent preview screening, where the audience had gotten in free, a few people walked out in the middle of the ``surprise'' ending.
Willis plays Thomas Hardy, author of ``Return of the Native'' and a Pittsburgh homicide cop. All right, he's not a writer and he's not a homicide cop for very long, either. The film begins in 1991 when the Polish Hill killer is murdering women in a particularly sadistic manner. Hardy is sure that the killer is a policeman.
While he and his dad (John Mahoney) who's also a cop are on their way to the policeman's ball, they learn that their fellow officers are in pursuit of the murderer. What follows is one of the longest and most overwrought cinematic car chases you'll ever endure. Its conclusion is one of those weird movie mistakes that makes viewers laugh uncomfortably, wondering if it's supposed to be funny. It's not. Most of the moments of humor are unintentional.
In any case, the action shifts to the present where Hardy, for reasons too senseless to describe, has transferred from homicide to River Rescue. His new partner is a woman (Sarah Jessica Parker). They don't get along, etc., etc. You know exactly where that plot line is going. Suspense is allegedly generated when the killings begin again.
Sure, Det. Detillo (Dennis Farina) says that they caught the guy years ago and he's about to be executed. But could it be that one of Detillo's own unstable sons (Tom Sizemore and Robert Pastorelli) had something to do with the murders? And how about Det. Eiler (Brion James), who hates Hardy and probably didn't care for ``Tess of the D'Urbervilles'' either?
The script by director Rowdy Harrington and Matin Kaplan is a sloppy collection of cliches. Action fans have seen all this before. They're going to know, for example, that when the bad guy gets shot, he's wearing a bulletproof vest. The too-familiar stalking shots from the killer's point of view perpetuate the women-as-victim stereotype.
And if those weren't enough, the film is riddled with continuity errors - in one scene Sarah Jessica Parker does a quick change from shirt to swim suit to shirt - and the father-son side of the story is handled with particular clumsiness.
Even though there are still three months left in the year, ``Striking Distance'' is guaranteed a place on the Ten Worst Films of 1993 list.
STRIKING DISTANCE
A Columbia TriStar release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 98 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, some sexual content.
by CNB