The Dead Pool (1988)

One of my all time favorites.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Dead PoolTo successfully predict celebrity deaths, you must first know which stars are addicted to Percocet. Thankfully, the detective in this action movie has a cheat sheet of likely victims.Renowned police inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and his new partner (Evan C. Kim) investigate a singer's (Jim Carrey) death on the set of a music video.When the producer is also killed, a list of names surfaces that reveals a morbid game in which participants bet on the life expectancy of famous people, including Callahan.On a tip from the director (Liam Neeson), Callahan's turned on to a schizophrenic super-fan (David Hunt).The final Dirty Harry movie, this iffy fifth installment in the franchise doesn't do much in the way of delivering a memorable departure, save for its title, which Marvel later used for a comic- book character.Nowadays, when a singer inadvertently dies on-set they just activate their hologram.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

The formula for the "Dirty Harry" movies had been well established by the time "The Dead Pool" was released and true to form, for this, his final appearance, the famous maverick cop gets involved in shootouts, car chases and all sorts of trouble with his bosses. His contempt for authority, bureaucracy and the media remain undiminished and his modus operandi, which entails shooting all criminals dead continues to save the tax-payers shed-loads of money and avoids any problems with judges who might decide to set the bad guys free on some technicality. Fortunately, despite all the dangers of his job, he also continues to provide plenty of laughs with his regular supply of wisecracks which often carry a sting in the tail.The publicity he gets after providing testimony in court that puts a San Francisco mafia boss behind bars, makes Detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) a local celebrity but also a target for the Mafioso's henchmen who attempt to eliminate him when they ambush him in his car. After surviving this attempt on his life, Callahan and his new partner Detective Inspector Al Quan (Evan C Kim) are assigned to investigate the death of rock star Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey) who'd been making a music video under the supervision of horror movie director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). A little while later, Callahan and Quan see a robbery taking place in a Chinese restaurant and Callahan kills a number of the robbers before Quan uses his impressive martial arts skills to subdue and arrest another one.Callahan and Quan discover that a customer killed in the restaurant robbery was Peter Swan's production accountant who was carrying a list of names in his pocket. Further investigations reveal that the producer was a participant in a gambling game (called "the dead pool") in which those involved, placed bets on which local celebrities would die by a predetermined date. A well-known movie critic and a talk show host are also murdered as the serial killings continue and, as all the victims are on Peter Swan's dead pool list, he becomes the prime suspect. Callahan isn't convinced however and continues to pursue the killer with all the determination that anyone whose name also appears on Swan's list naturally would.Callahan's unlikely love interest in this movie is a TV reporter who he's forced to co-operate with and whose single-minded determination to get a sensational story overrules any considerations about decency or good taste. Examples of this are when she aggressively pursues Squares' girlfriend who's absolutely distraught after learning of her fiancé's death and when she starts to commentate live in a filmed report of a disturbed man's attempted suicide. Patricia Clarkson is very good as this highly-motivated woman and there are also great contributions from Liam Neeson as the detestable movie director and Jim Carrey as the drug-addicted rock star who lip-synchs colourfully to the "Guns 'n' Roses" track "Welcome To The Jungle". Evan C Kim is also surprisingly good as Callahan's likable partner.There are some highly amusing sequences in this movie such as the "Bullitt" inspired car chase in which Callahan is pursued by a radio-controlled toy car that's loaded with explosives and a terrifically over-the-top confrontation with the villain of the piece, when he arrives armed with a huge harpoon!! Clint Eastwood is predictably good as he follows Callahan's simplistic code, shows contempt for numerous people, blows away the bad guys and miraculously avoids any form of injury.During their 17-year-run, the "Dirty Harry" films provided a great deal of entertainment and thrills for audiences as well as a certain amount of interest as Callahan's character developed in subtle ways in each of the five movies. "The Dead Pool" has an interesting plot and provided a worthy final addition to the series.

This is the fourth and last sequel to Dirty Harry, where Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds himself on a list of a betting game thought up by filmmaker Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). The game's object is to see which local celebrity would be the first to die.Eastwood continues his justice-seeking and sarcastically witty portrayal of Callahan and delivered some great gun-totting action, never-say-die attitude and humorous one-liners that kept me laughing and engaged at the same time. The random crimes foiled by Callahan continue to pop up within the main plot and kept the movie interesting and fast-paced. Jack N. Green gave us a nice cinematographic view of San Francisco and Buddy Van Horn directed a movie with a solid cast. I especially liked the chemistry between Eastwood and Patricia Clarkson and liked seeing the appearances of Liam Neesom and Jim Carrey in one of their earlier film roles.In addition, Callahan pairs up with new partner Al Quan (Evan C. Kim), which I thought is one of the better pairings as Quan had good rapport with Callahan and seemed to be more engaged on his mission and ***spoiler ahead*** ultimately having a better fate toward the end of the movie than previous counterparts. ***spoiler ends*** I also liked Quan's martial arts sequence during the restaurant scene.While the plot has lesser surprises, it is still a fun movie with some occasional unique scenes (the toy race car scene) popping up throughout the story. A fitting end to the Dirty Harry trilogy.Grade B+

The Dead Pool is a the fifth and final film of the Dirty Harry film series.Clint Eastwood returns as Inspector "Dirty Harry Callahan with a cast that includes future stars Liam Neeson,Patricia Clarkson and Jim Carrey.In it,we get to see Dirty Harry gets involved in a manipulation of a dead pool by a serial killer.It is written by Steve Sharon and directed by Buddy Van Horn.In the movie,there exists a sports pool on about who among the next famous celebrity that is going to die next.A serial killer tries to somehow manipulate the said pool by changing the odds and doing something about the result.The next victim happens to be Dirty Harry himself together with a high-profile TV journalist.But as the viewer expects,Dirty Harry is able to get through the threats and manages to capture the said serial killer before further celebrity killings happens ahead.At this point of the series,fans know what to expect from a Dirty Harry film.The screenplay gets into business right away and places some car chase that is run by a remote control for good measure.But too bad that it loses some edginess and less excitement.The only refreshing element in it is how the killings are made for they are more brutal and a lot violent.But in spite of it,Eastwood still manages to provide entertainment in the role that made him an icon.It was good that this was Dirty Harry's last film for a sequel would have been disastrous.