Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

ElMaruecan82 "The Rookie" takes me back to the early 90s when thrillers and action pictures were all set aside for Sunday night, and from time to time, I was allowed to enjoy the movie with my Dad. Give me a few seconds to embrace the nostalgia... And I remember when I saw good old Clint Eastwood in his car, watching carjackers loading a whole semi-trailer with their recent (and valuable) "purchases", I had but one certitude in mind: his partner would better have a last puff on his buddy's cigars because he'd spp, become another "dead on duty" statistic. He wasn't a few days from retirement but he was old, he was Black and well, as Roger Ebert pointed out, the film's title doesn't make you expect a "dazzling work of originality". But I didn't know Ebert at that time, only my classics.So naturally, the man was shot from behind by the grand theft mastermind, a German (!?) mustached villain played by the late Raul Julia. Of course, it made the matter more personal for Nick Puvloski, a fine and shameless ersatz of Dirty Harry. Did I groan for such a lack of originality from the start? Well, I guess I just enjoyed the chase across the expressway and I knew the film would provide the shot of adrenalin we all expected for a Sunday Night. Of course, Nick doesn't get the villain, but he makes him lose the precious loot, creating another 'personal' grudge on the other side... and the next day, he's assigned a new partner, a young detective named David Ackerman.The set-up was predictable and the rest of the story was swimming in familiar territories: a tense relationship between the old street-smart cop and the sensitive rookie played by Charlie Sheen, bargains with snitches, television kicked by the bad guy, the sexy villainess, and the spectacular stunts. I didn't see the film for years but my memory wasn't blurry at all, I still had enough scenes stuck in my mind to have this in the "memorable films" compartment. I remember Sonia Braga shooting David in the back with that "amateur" line (the ad made me expect he would die for real), I remember David again, getting smoke on his face from a condescending bartender and a few scenes later, returning the favor back with a slightly disproportionate retribution, the spectacularly explosive stunt... and I also liked the final touch at the end with the initial scene being Xeroxed almost line from line. So when the film ended, we knew it wasn't a masterpiece but we didn't care, we had our share of fun and I gladly saw the re-run a few days later. I was aware of Clint Eastwood's reputation of course and I enjoyed his presence and his interactions with Sheen, but it was long before I became a movie buff, more familiar with his best work and capable to discern between such movies as "The Rookie" and other more valuable achievements. A few years after, on another Sunday night, "A Perfect World" was aired and I was capable to realize that this film played in another league. And we can say in totally objective terms that "The Rookie" doesn't reinvent the wheel, doesn't recreate the same chemistry that made the "Lethal Weapon" series and that it's one of Eastwood's lesser films... but even with that regard, the flaws are still enjoyable to say the least. Don't they call that a guilty pleasure?I think it says it all. Watching it again, I knew I was supposed to cringe many times. I was surprised to see how wooden and emotionless Sheen played his character, does he have a cramp on his lips that prevents him from smiling from time to time? I was also surprised by Pepe Serna, the ill-fated Tony Montana's drug-deal partner in "Scarface", there was just something in his voice and accent that didn't quite match the lines he was supposed to shout. I was also surprised by how underused Julia and Braga were. These two Latin actors don't need many lines of dialogues to exude their talent (and Braga was an unforgettable femme fatale) but I wish there was some depth added to their relationship, that would have made that 'rape' scene less gratuitous at least. It was also fun to see these guys working for Puvloski and Storm (or Strom?) getting bullets in retribution, talk about insisting that crime doesn't pay. I was also disappointed by the way David's backstory didn't quite add up to his character... precisely because he doesn't even save Nick's ass.The film had so many flaws I lost track... but my presumption is that Eastwood did it for the money in the way that you honor a command, I read that he had to make a movie for Warner Bros and maybe after two art-house films ("White Hunter, Black Heart" and "Bird") he decided to loosen up a bit and have fun. I'm fine with his idea of having fun and at least, you can tell he put quite a budget, judging by the impressive quality of the stunts work. But there's a reason the film didn't quite take off with the box-office although it was a mild success, it's not because it faced the competition of "Home Alone" because action pictures like "Total Recall" or "Die Hard 2" did better, so maybe it had to be a not so good word-of-mouth. But it was still good enough to deliver what was expected to an audience who knew what to expect.It could be better given its talented director and its set of villains, it's unfortunate that they had to put so much effort on the hardest part and not tried to densify the story a little, but I'll end with the same nostalgic tone that opened this review, "The Rookie" wasn't a theater film but the perfect movie to rent in VHS for a fun Saturday afternoon.

jovana-13676 So, I hear they don't write interesting roles for women anymore these days? Maybe it's not patriarchy, but just a general lack of ideas. This film doesn't offer much - it's packed with action, but this one rape scene is a showstopper. Yes, it's a dominating woman, but not really PC. That's why I love it.

AgentSauvage Good that Charlie Sheen pays homage to the superb Blazing Saddles at one point, but definitely towards the lower end of the scale in Clint Eastwood Police films. Raul Julia was a splendid actor, but he just does not look German - who ever thought he could convincingly play a German criminal? And why is it assumed that all someone needs to do to depict a Police Lieutenant or Captain is to get someone who shouts at everyone around him. Charlie Sheen's Father is entirely miscast as a very rich business-man - the actor does not look comfortable in a suit. Clint Eastwood throughout is good, but needed a better script and a less ordinary hand-gun (it just seems wrong for him to have a run-of-the mill .45 - or it could even be a 9mm/.38). Many of the supporting cast in fights and gunfights are clearly awaiting a cue before springing into ineffectual action. This should be classified as a Charlie Sheen film but Clint Eastwood probably would consign it to the back shelf.

James Hitchcock Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" franchise officially came to an end with the fifth instalment, "The Dead Pool", in 1988, but Eastwood still seemed to be in love with the character because two years later he made what is effectively a sixth Dirty Harry film, "The Rookie". One critic even dubbed it "Dirty Harry 5½". The only difference is that Eastwood's character is here named Nick Pulovski rather than Harry Callaghan and the action is moved south down the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles.I won't waste too much time on the plot as it could be the plot of any bog-standard buddy-buddy tough cop movie. The veteran Pulovski and his younger partner David Ackerman (the rookie of the title) take on a German crime baron named Strom and his female sidekick Liesl. They specialise in grand theft auto and armed robbery, but have no objection to a little homicide on the side, or even a lot of homicide on the side, when it suits their interests.Most of the "Dirty Harry" films were directed by someone other than Eastwood himself, "Sudden Impact" being the only exception. Here, however, he both acts and directs. By 1990 he was an experienced director, and as far as its technical aspects are concerned the film is a good one. It was praised for the quality of its stunt work, especially during the various car chase and car crash scenes, and Eastwood's camera work and use of lighting combine to produce the impression of a fast- moving, exciting thriller.Unfortunately, the other aspects of the film are not so good, especially its acting and its script. Eastwood is simply playing a character he has played many times before, perhaps too many times before, albeit under different names, and brings nothing new to the film. Charlie Sheen is perhaps better as Ackerman. He appears to have been struggling with serious issues in his personal life, such as an alcohol and drug problem at the time of filming, and this may paradoxically have helped him to portray a character who is also struggling with issues in his personal life. (Ackerman is haunted by psychological guilt after the death of his brother in childhood). Raul Julia and Sonia Braga, however, are awful as Strom and Liesl. Just why someone thought it would be a good idea to cast the Puerto Rican Julia and the Brazilian Braga as Germans is one of those mysteries that defy rational explanation, especially as Julia and Braga make little attempt to suggest a Teutonic persona but simply play their characters as stereotypical Latinos who happen to have German names.The script is even worse than the acting. My principal objection to it is not that it is formulaic cops-and-robbers stuff, although it is certainly that. My objection would be to some of the social attitudes revealed in the film. Harry Callaghan had no time for by-the-book methods of law enforcement, and may himself have gone outside the law, but when he did so (at least in the original "Dirty Harry") it was because of a fervent desire to protect the public and bring dangerous criminals to justice. In the case of Nick Pulovski, however, going outside the law seems to be his standard modus operandi, and David Ackerman takes matters one stage further. For him breaking the law is not just something he does while on the job, it is also how he amuses himself during his idle moments of leisure. In one scene he manages to burn down a bar, something which you might have thought would have earned him at least instant dismissal from the force, if not a lengthy jail sentence, but he seems to get away with it. From the closing scenes we might conclude that extra-judicial executions are now standard LAPD operating procedure. Remind me to be extra-careful to stay on the right side of the law next time I visit LA. Equally objectionable is the characterisation of Liesl as a psychopathic nymphomaniac- the film contains one of the few woman-on-man rape scenes in cinematic history- which struck me as misogynistic. ."The Rookie" is not just an average cop thriller. It is a nasty, sadistically violent, unoriginal and generally below average cop thriller. Only Eastwood's accomplished direction saves it from a lower mark. 5/10