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| An original, virile poster for Buddy Van Horn's The Dead Pool |
QUICK REVIEW:
Fame catches up with Detective Harry Callahan of the SFPD, who gets a new, Asian martial arts expert partner and a new assignment: A celebrity-killing serial killer maniac.
Dead Pool is a highly entertaining, appealingly compact sequel, (at just 91 minutes it is both the crime action movie series' last and shortest entry).
It is definitely better than the first of the four sequels, the series' most commercially successful film, Magnum Force (1973). - Because the 80s truly shine through, and also because the film presents an imaginative story with some fun characters: Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)) as a heroin junkie rock star; Liam Neeson (Schindler's List (1993)) as an a-hole movie director, and Patricia Clarkson (Six Feet Under (2002-05)) as a sweet blond. - And Guns N' Roses cameos in the film.
Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry (1971)), the center of it all, is in physical top shape here, where he SPOILER ultimately gets to harpoon the villain!
The Dead Pool is written by Steve Sharon, based on a story by him, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw (Firefox (1982), scientific advisors, both), and directed by stunt man and stunt coordinator on more than 100 films Buddy Van Horn, who also directed three: Besides Dead Pool, the other two are also Eastwood vehicles; Any Which Way You Can (1980) and Pink Cadillac (1989).
Relate review:
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life
Buddy Van Horn: Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business!
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| A young Patricia Clarkson in Buddy Van Horn's The Dead Pool |
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| An equally young Jim Carrey also in Buddy Van Horn's The Dead Pool |
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| A flying car --- a trick that never grows old --- in Buddy Van Horn's The Dead Pool |
Watch the original trailer here
Cost: 31 mil. $
Box office: 37.9 mil. $ (US only)
= Uncertainty
[Without international figures, it is not possible to tell if Dead Pool made a profit. It seems likely it just broke even theatrically or perhaps even incurred a minor loss.]
What do you think of The Dead Pool?
And the other four Dirty Harry movies?
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