This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Dreadfully Boring

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Director Ken Sanzel who also created the classic flick, Lone Hero 2002 has created another gem in Scar City.Starring Stephen Baldwin who has also been in other classic flicks, Born on the Fourth of July 1989, Last Exit to Brooklyn 1989 and The Beast of War 1988.Also starring Tia Carrere who has also been in other classic flicks, True Lies 1994, Showdown in Little Tokyo 1991 and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man 1991.Also starring Renee Estevez who has also been in other classic flicks, Single White Female 1992, Intruder 1989, Heathers 1988 and another classic cop flick, Lethal Weapon 1987.Also starring Chazz Palminteri who has also been in another classic flick, Running Scared 2006.I enjoyed the violence.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic cop flicks, Across 110th Street 1972, Assault on Precinct 13 1976, Back in Action 1993, Bad Boys II 2003, Bad Lieutenant 1992, Bloodfist V: Human Target 1994, Cobra 1986, Renegade Force 1998, Breach of Trust 1995, God Told Me To 1976, Die Hard 4.0 2007, Dirty Harry 1971, Extreme Justice 1993, Face/Off 1997, Fair Game 1995, Game of Death 2010, The Gauntlet 1977, Internal Affairs 1990, L.A. Confidential 1997, Last Man Standing 1996, The Last Marshal 1999, Magnum Force 1973, I Love a Man in Uniform 1993, Maniac Cop 2 1990, Martial Law II: Undercover 1992, Maximum Risk 1996, Out for Justice 1991, Phoenix 1998, Rapid Fire 1992, Ricochet 1991, Shallow Ground 2004, Sinners and Saints 2010, State of Grace 1990, Sudden Impact 1983, Surveillance 2008, The Sweeper 1996, Training Day 2001, Until Death 2007, Street Kings 2: Motor City 2011, The Last Stand 2013, The Raid 2 2014, S.W.A.T.: Firefight 2011, Assault on Precinct 13 2005, Gridlocked 2015, The Hollow Point 2016, Patriots Day 2016, A Hard Day 2014, Blue Steel 1989, S.W.A.T.: Under Siege 2017, Unlawful Entry 1992, The French Connection 1971 and The Untouchables 1987.

Scar City is the inspirational story of New York City's first fully functional retarded police officer, John Trace (Stephen Baldwin), who is recruited to work in the special S.C.A.R. unit run by Lieutenant Laine Devon (Chaz Palmenteri). Trace goes through the usual rookie hazing, but has a harder time with it than most, because of his inability to understand what is happening. Tia Carerre plays a titty bar vixen who spends half the movie uninvolved with the plot but finds her way in at Trace's first raid with his new unit. From there on the helpless Carerre relies on Trace to keep her safe from the baddies. There are some amazing moments where the retarded Trace walks on top of cars instead of going around them and shoots his pistol over and around his head. The line, "Don't think once," sums up the movie pretty well. I won't spoil it for you but Trace's journey through the crooked NYPD as the first fully functional retarded officer is as hard to watch as it is inspirational. I'm not sure if this was inspired by a true story or not, but if it was I'm sure that whoever the trailblazer was who is the real John Trace would be thrilled with the accurate portrayal of the mentally retarded by Stephen Baldwin.

When I first saw "Scarred City" on late night broadcast TV some years ago, I liked it, despite editing of mammary organs, blood and profanity (It was aired 11.35 p.m., beyond the hold of the dreaded FCC. Aw, the idiocy). Thankfully, I got in on DVD and I like it a bit more. It's not the best, but has charm.John Trace (Stephen Baldwin) is a good but trigger-happy beat cop in Brooklyn, New York, facing three bad shootings. A fourth happens with a unarmed drug perp. Lt. Laine Devon (Chazz Palminteri) is the only high-level cop sympathetic to Trace's predicament and inducts him into the SCAR unit, an elite group of cops that handle dangerous thugs. It's better than going to jail, but Trace, during a sting at a porn shop, finds Devon and the rest are also trigger-happy, but have no conscience and the powers-that-be look the other way. He goes along for self-protection, but, during a violent drug bust, he breaks rank by saving the life of a call girl/torch song singer named Candy, played by sweet-faced, sassy Tia Carrere. Marked for death by both sides of the law, both of them have to work together to stay a few paces ahead."Scarred City" is your usual late-night, B-feature but has much more, thanks to director Ken Sanzel's(writer/showrunner on "Numb3rs") witty dialogue-laded script and the performances. Sure, Baldwin's sometimes sleepy, Carrere's too smart and both look a bit old for the roles, but they play along well as two unlikely lovers who don't fit in their professions, another good redeeming factor. Palminteri comes across more of a mobster than a cop, but still menacing. TV fans should note the appearances of Gary Dourdan (CSI) as Devon's right-hand man and Larry Manetti (Magnum P.I.) as a mob-connected, strip joint owner. The rest of the cast is also reliable.And no, Tia's doesn't display her "goodies" but there's a funny bit involving that. Although it pales in the shadows of the superior "Magnum Force" and the recent "Frank Miller's Sin City" (particularly the slightly similar "That Yellow Bastard" vignette, starring Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba and Nick Stahl), "Scarred City" is good enough with a six-pack of beer (I prefer orange juice), three extra cheese pizza pies, a soft-core porn film and a Chris Rock concert film on a Saturday night.

This is a strictly B movie that manages to successfully disguise its true identity up until the last 1/3rd of the story. The story is nothing new - Clint Easywood, amongst others, charted the same territory of vigilante cops pulling the wrong newbie into their group in 1973's MAGNUM FORCE - but it has been spiced up with some bullet ballet that is actually more realistic than most big budget affairs produce. Overall, the photography and lighting are very professional in a gritty way, and so is the editing, which gives the movie a very polished, well-budgeted look. Still, police dramas with mediocre plots need to be carried by their characters, and while Stephen Baldwin does make an interesting hero, his shooting does more for character development than his dialogue. Tia Carrere is nice, but she comes across way too smart, and definitely way too composed, for a call-girl, and she shows virtually zero skin - an especially big disappointment in a genre film of this kind...:) If anything, the supporting characters, the 'baddies' who make up the police team, are the ones that carry you through several scenes: their action is fairly nicely choreographed, and it is a pleasure to see them die....but, ultimately, Scar City really fails. The first third is somewhat engaging, because the director wisely spends his time to establish the protagonists' and the antagonists' strengths and weaknesses. The second third rolls well because of all the action suddenly exploding onto the screen. In the third, though, where action and characters could be nicely pulled together into a tight, plot-driven finale, the film crumbles into a dozen silly clichés and inconsistencies instead. Why would you ask someone whether they can shoot, a few hours after they showed you their gun, telling you how they used to shoot squirrels with it? The mess is hardly mopped up by an incomplete and nonsensical ending that makes it look like the director was too tired to tie up a dozen characters and plot lines.Still, for a slow weekday evening it is good gunplay.