Patricia Clarkson Movie:

Editorial Review:
After the drudgery of Sudden Impact, the fourth and worst sequel to Dirty Harry, no one could have expected the fifth to have any signs of life. But The Dead Pool is fairly inspired, even playful--check out a "chase" scene between Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan character and a remote-controlled toy car wielding a bomb--and it ended the long-running series on an unexpectedly positive note. This time, Callahan investigates a series of murders that appears to be on a "death list," while becoming romantically involved with a television reporter (Patricia Clarkson). Jim Carrey has a small but memorable part as a doped-up rock star, and Liam Neeson is on board, too. Directed by Eastwood surrogate Buddy Van Horn (Any Which Way You Can). --Tom Keogh

The Dead Pool [Region 2] Reviews:
Only OK. The weakest Dirty Harry flick.
2009-09-04 - This one was a disappointment. Part of it is slapstick (the "car" chase scene) and it is just not a particularly good flick. I gave it the third star because I like Clint Eastwood so much and always enjoy his acting, but really, this one is a disappointment.

Age is reviving these old films
2009-07-16 - Who cannot like Dirty Harry, Inspector Harry Callaghan? He represented a type of cop that was supposed to be outdated at the time (1988) but has come back into honor over the last ten years when leniency and benevolence towards criminals has gone down because it turned out quite obvious that this kind of attitude was encouraging crime. Ruthlessness is probably not the answer but a firm and just application of the law, nothing but the law, but all the law without any exception is definitely the right answer. Some redundant workers in a factory that is to close decided to blackmail everyone with blowing up the factory if they did not get their conditions. Where do you think they got that kind of idea? Taking everyone hostages for them to get a privileged treatment in a difficult situation. The law says all workers who are made redundant are supposed to benefit from a guaranteed social program and all workers in that situation are supposed to get the same treatment. Leniency against hostage takers, ransom runners, pirates of any type including Internet pirates is worse than the crime itself. The criminals are supposed to be treated with fairness but firmness too. That's what Harry Callaghan represents. At the time Clint Eastwood's films on the subject were considered pretty conservative if not reactionary. But times have changed and now he seems to be more logical in these times of global terrorism. At the time Clint Eastwood expressed the voice of and channeled into the theaters an audience that wanted to protest in their heads against that trendy leniency with crime. Today he appeals to the audience that has understood that global terrorism starts with accepting petty crimes and small offenses as normal in a way, as tolerable, as excusable even, and with considering that people under eighteen are not supposed to be treated as adult when they commit premeditated adult crimes. The film is full of action but also full of creative means because criminals are great inventors and Clint Eastwood gives back to Caesar what is Caesar's, hence their inventiveness back to these creative criminals. He was also one of the first to start understanding that serial killers are sociopathic people and that the best way to get them is to understand their mental functioning, hence to profile them. They were just starting speaking of profiling in the FBI and that was heavily discussed and confronted to a lot of disagreement and dissent. Today it has become standard and global too. Then the film is also teaching a good lesson to the media people by dragging one female reporter into the life of an inspector who is at the top of the list of a serial killer. She learns the hard way that one must not mess with police work. If there is any abuse they know about and witness they must not try to stop the police action that seems abusive to them but just do their job and report it to the public and let courts decide. Reporters do not always understand that their jumping into a crime scene may completely spoil the scene and mess up the work of the investigators. That's why this film is interesting, and at the same time charmingly appealing.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID


Last 'Dirty Harry' Movie, And A Good One
2009-02-05 - This was the fifth and last "Dirty Harry" movie with Clint Eastwood playing the hero again, Inspector Harry Callahan, cleaning up the streets of San Francisco from all the scumbag criminals. I've always found "The Dead Pool" to be one of his best in this series.

It's entertaining with pretty taut suspense and always fun to go back and see a young Jim Carrey. It's always cool, too, to watch those little remote-control cars with bombs attached go speeding through the streets underneath automobiles. At an hour-and-a-half, there are no dry spots in this film, either.

The female lead, Patricia Clarkson, is not one of my favorites. Eastwood seems to like those skinny blonds. Evan Kim, playing "Harry's" new partner, "Al Quan," was a likable guy. Even Harry's slightly more low-key in this movie, his language more tame and he gets in a few comedic zingers as well. Carrey plays a totally-despicable drugged-out rock star but he doesn't last long in the film. Carry and Liam Neeson play low-life people and combine to put some sleaze into the story.

Despite the usual less-than-credible action scenes at the end (where the villains miss from point-blank range, etc.), this is still a very entertaining movie and one of my favorites among the "Dirty Harry" films. Clint went out in style with this film


Swell
2008-12-16 - Okay, so you are in the mood for a "Dirty Harry" flick. which one to choose???? I'll save you the trouble, and unless you've already seen the other four "Harry" flicks, pick one of those instead. "The Dead Pool" is okay, but compared to what came before it in Clint Eastwood's iconic series, it's a huge letdown.

The basic storyline is that someone is targeting local San Fran celebrities, and using a B-movie director's Dead Pool list as targets. (For those who don't know what a Dead Pool is; it's when you take bets on which celebrities will pass away within a given time). Eastwood's detective somehow makes the list of celebrities who may not survive the year.

So this time around, Harry gets saddled with an Asian partner, and his love interest is a local journalist. Oh, and just to add to the mix, Harry has also been targeted by a local mafia boss. Sounds good right? Well for the most part it's not bad. I liked the idea of "The Dead Pool Killer", and the cast is fantastic, with Patricia Clarkson playing the journalist who catches Clint's eye, and Liam Neeson as a bad B-movie director. To top if off, if you've ever wanted to see Jim Carrey die in a painful manner, then "The Dead Pool" will deliver, as Carrey does his best to channel every over-the-top 1980's hair metal lead singer featured on Headbangers Ball.

But right into the middle of this mix, someone dropped one huge of a turd of a car chase that blows everything that came before and after in the film. How bad could it be you ask? Well, it's a car chase between Clint's Le Baron (or whatever unremarkable 80's sedan he was driving) and a remote control car. Yes, a toy. I know you have to suspend belief when watching a "Dirty Harry" flick, but this pushed the limit of credibility right out the window and you can almost hear the film come to a screeching halt. It's so genuinely awful, that it ruins what could have been a decent film.

So unless, you just want to see the Swan Song of Dirty Harry as you've watched the other films, or if you are morbidly curious to see Jim Carrey in a scene with Liam Neeson, then skip this lame entry in an otherwise great series.

Dead Pool DVD
2008-09-16 - Well organized DVD, with plenty of extras. Learned quite a bit behind the scenes. Effective box, captures the Dirty Harry feel. You can't go wrong unless you are going to Blue Ray.