The Dead Pool

The fifth and final appearance by Clint as Harry. At the age of 58 he's already a bit old for the part, but never mind. Were in the 80s mood with a story about a serial killer manipulating a so-called dead pool: famous (or infamous) people are on a dead list, and citizens can put money on them in the game 'who dies first?'. Harry has become a celebrity and his name is therefore on the list too.

The film plays joyfully with Harry's fame as an iconoclast, with some rather crude - but often funny - dialogue ("Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one") and a provocative scene in which Harry wrestles away a camera from a reporter and hurls it as far as he can. It also turns him in a sort of Superman who can't possibly be hit by bullets, not even when his opponents use machine guns. At the same time, every bullet from his own Magnum hits an opponent between the eye.

The film isn't particularly inspired and the story just seems to jump from one shootout to another. It also feels a bit too light-hearted, too cartoonish, in relation to the other movies. The Dirty Harry movies were known for a certain degree of crudeness, but they always had interesting premises, usually involving a moral dilemma. In the Dead Pool, there's no real dilemma and the film itself comes dangerously close to a joke. But there are also a couple of flashes of the old wit and the detective story works well on its own terms, creating some tension with the question whether Liam Neeson's self-indulgent film maker is, or is not, the sick person behind the pool and the murder scheme.

The film is probably best remembered for two things: a supporting role (as an addicted rock-singer who has a guest-appearance in a horror movie!) by a 22-year old Jim Carrey, and  a car chase through the streets of San Francisco (does that ring a bell?) involving a remote  control model race car, for the occasion driven by world-champion radio control driver "Jammin'" Jay Halsey. It's a wonderful idea and a very nice scene, funny and exciting.

Aanraders in overeenkomstige genres, volgens Boobytrap:
- Skyfall (actie / thriller : 8)
- Licence to Kill (actie / thriller : 7.5)
- From Russia with Love (actie / thriller : 7.5)
- Peur sur la Ville (actie / thriller : 7.5)
- Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale) (actie / thriller : 7.5)

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