It is a performances centric movie

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Although now 32 years old, this film still packs a wallop. The violence is raw, and very brutal -- even by today's standards. Everyone seems to be getting shot in the face, or in the testicles, and director Friedkin always makes sure to show the gore in full, red detail. The story concerns a corrupt Secret Service agent named Chance out to avenge his partner's killing. He runs into a vicious artist-counterfeiter named Masters who seems to know all of Chance's moves before anyone else. Someone is feeding Masters information, and the film suggests it could be a sleazy lawyer, appropriately named Grimes, or the sleazy woman who Chance is sleeping with. We really don't know though.Mirroring the violence is an equally ugly depiction of Los Angeles. Forget about palm trees, beaches and glamorous people. Friedkin's Los Angeles consists of smog, railroad yards, electrical towers, claustrophobic industrial streets and seedy bars. There's literally nothing redeeming about the place.There are some apparent plot holes. Why don't they just arrest Masters? They know where he is, as he frequents a local health club ("I'm an easy man to find" he boasts). Masters had rented out an industrial warehouse where Chance's partner was killed. Masters drove his sports car and walked all over that property. Was he so careful that he scrubbed every piece of evidence? I would imagine something was left behind -- a tire track, a footprint, something. Either from Masters or his burly co- conspirator. Stupidly, when the Secret Service shows up at the warehouse, they put their fingerprints on every door and dumpster handle in sight.Instead of arresting him, they try a sting operation. It doesn't go well.The dialogue is cynical, dark and very true to life. Certain lines stick with you. "Makin it like very other swinging dick in here." "Enjoy your work Mr. Jessup?" "He doesn't have it. What a guy." "Your taste is in your ass."Nine out of 10.

William Friedkin of "The Exorcist" fame went back to his crime film roots with this well executed action thriller based on a former LAPD agent's book of the same name. The story is relatively simple at the start as the film has two officers (William Petersen and John Pankow) of the U.S. Secret Service out to catch a notorious counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed the partner of one of the agents. The narrative takes several twists and turns as the agents race to take down their target, but keep learning along the way that it won't be an easy task to catch a smart criminal mastermind without prices being paid for their dedication.As the heroes (or in Petersen's character's case, an anti-hero), Petersen and Pankow display a unique chemistry that keeps their characters on opposite sides of the same case; Petersen's Chance will go beyond the law to catch their counterfeiter prey while Pankow's Vukovich is the by-the-books agent who soon learns he must go outside the rules to get the man they are after. The show primarily belongs to William Petersen's Chance as he is the driving force for the action since he is the one whose partner is killed early in the film. Petersen oozes a brash personality that counters the more reserved and just Vukovich that John Pankow plays.Playing the film's villain in one of his earliest starring roles is the ever charismatic and talented Willem Dafoe as the calculating and brutal Rick Masters. He is the counterfeiting mastermind Chance and Vukovich are desperately chasing, but Masters is always a step ahead. From brutally executing Chance's first partner, Jim Hart, to his masterful counterfeiting operation to even more crueler slayings for anyone who double-crosses him, Dafoe keeps a sinister charm to his portrayal of Masters and conveys his quiet intelligence with his trademark soft-spoken voice. Friedkin helped write the film's screenplay with some assistance from source writer, Gerald Petevich, and Petevich's brother. The director quite easily has control of their script which is clear from what is shown on-screen. However this does not dumb down the tension of the film as the clock ticks down the days and time of the action. If you want a pot-boiling action film that will have on the edge of your seat, I recommend this film.

I've loved this movie ever since I saw it shortly after its release; and, I still love it now.This US Secret Service agent, Chance (William L. Peterson), is the kind of devoted 'cop' whom. if every cop was like, there would be 90% less crime; as well as much less money spent on courtroom bs for criminals; and, more attention placed upon jailing crooked high-society lawyers who defend known criminals.Sure, he 'bends' the law, but, he gets answers and results, to the dismay of his "pencil-neck" pencil-pushing boss, which almost every 'cop' movie has.I would think that the worse thing for a cop is when a case becomes personal, as in this movie; but, it's probably the best thing for society when this happens because the cop is 'sure' to do his job to the fullest.However...with the exception of the real 'Serpico,' this is all a pipe-dream. The only people in crime/drama movies who are true-to-life are the criminals, because they're the only ones who put their 'all' into their jobs.Despite all of this, this is a great action-packed movie on a realistic level; it stars great actors; and, it has a great and believable story.I really love this movie, and, I recommend it to all those who love crime/dramas.

What is everyone smoking? I went in with high hopes and was let down by this awful film. Is it just nostalgia talking? I don't see why this is so beloved by film fans.I see labels like "groundbreaking", "cliche free", "gritty", "a different take on ___". It's NONE of those things! It's full of some of the biggest cop clichés of all time - and I know for a fact they didn't stem from this film. For example, 10 minutes in, one of the cops says "I'm too old for this s**t" - then he gets shot TWO DAYS FROM RETIREMENT! I almost fell out of my chair laughing at how ludicrous it was. It was like a parody of a cop film.Then there's the whole "the brooding cop doesn't want a new partner, but is forced to get along with him anyway". The lead isn't an anti-hero cop, he's just incompetent. He and his partner fall asleep at a stake out! He lets the guy he has in custody go see a "daughter" in hospital, not even checking with the hospital if she's related and knows the guy. Then he lets the criminal get away by taking his cuffs off in a hospital lift, and then getting the crap kicked out of him. RIDICULOUS!I know this film is from the '80s, but this is beyond your average '80s campy cheese factor. Numerous posing with one leg on a chair, with crotch in full view - tight jeans begging for mercy. Naked/half naked guys everywhere. It's not a big deal, it was just kind of laughable when all these guys are being macho with each other... then they're naked in a dressing room together, going about their business. The terrible soundtrack doesn't help. The main guy tries to act tough, but just comes off looking like a tool. Who wears a leather jacket without a shirt underneath? Plus, the main character is called Dick Chance. Yeah.The directing is hit and miss. Sometimes there's interesting shots, or techniques - I particularly liked the POV shot when the main guy is chasing after a criminal. The majority of the time though, the film has abrupt cuts which are jarring, but it not in an artistic, or meaningful way. It's just annoying, and feels like an amateur is behind the camera.It took three days for me to watch all of it. It was painfully bad. The only saving grace was the great acting from Dafoe and Turturro, but even they couldn't save this mess. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I felt passionate about this and want to make sure if anyone is on the fence about this - please, AVOID! If you want to watch a decent anti-hero cop film, I'd suggest watching Bad Lieutenant [1992], which is what I watched after this to cleanse myself after watching the prior trash. Bad Lieutenant does everything that this film wanted to do, but did it right - and went balls to the wall with it.