The Inspectors (1998)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Well done film with great chemistry between Lou Gossett, a veteran postal inspector and a newcomer Jonathan Silver, who is taken under the wing by Gossett.When a man is killed instantly after opening a package and his wife is critically injured in the blast, the blame shifts to their son. Irony ensues when it's discovered that not only is the son innocent, but he was the intended victim.Gossett, an experienced investigator, uses every trick to unravel this excellent who-done-it mystery.Of course, it's hard to believe that bomb preparation could be done by inmates in jail but the picture is quite good so ignore that problem.

***SPOILERS*** Based on a true story the movie "the Inspectors" has to do with a gang of pot smoking and booze swigging wackos who have it in for anyone who would dare to drive through their turf the town of Bayfield in rural Virgina. We find out what the real reason for the mail bombing of the Carrigan home, outside Baltimore, that killed Jacob and badly injured his wife Jane was when the son Drew is apprehended by the Postal Inspectors. As they showed up at his home just to ask him some questions why anyone would want to kill his parents.Under intense questioning Drew broke down and admitted that he was the real target of the mail bomb. In that he testified against his former friends Skell & Spider in a double murder that they participated in. What was so unusual about the mail bombing is that Drew's friends who are suspected in the bombing were serving a life sentence for murder in a maximum security prison at the time!Documentary-like story of how the Postal Inspectors track down and get their man, or woman, and how the law enforcement agencies, state and local police as well as the FBI, work together with the inspectors in doing it. With ace Postal Inspector Frank Hughes, who was a former mailman and has a number of dog bites to prove it, put on the case he's teamed up with Harvard graduate and rookie Alex Ubina to find out how this crime was both planned and executed from inside the state prison. It turns out that Spider was in contact with his girlfriend Amy who together with Lester Glover the troubled son of Bayfields Sheriff Glover, who was covering up for him, were involved in concocting the explosive device and then sending it through the US Mail.With nothing to lose the two convicted murderers who were so determined to kill the stoolie, Drew Carringan, killed his father and critically injuring his mother Jane by mistake. Now their just as determined to kill his young son Edison, with the outside help of Amy & Lester. That's if the Postal Inspectors, Hughs & Ubina, don't get to and disarm the mail bomb by them sent to young Edison as a birthday present first.High wire tension as a sweating and nervous Inspector Ubina tries to get Edison not to open his birthday present knowing it would blow him, as well as anyone as close as thirty feet from him, to pieces as we all hold our breath for the movies final and very unexpected outcome. The film "The Inspectors" shows that Postal Inspector work is anything but easy like catching people using counterfeit bills to buy stamps, as we see early in the film. Seeing What both Inspector Hughs and Ubina go through in the movie, risking their lives and limbs over and over again, more then proves it.

I've long admired the work and professionalism of the U.S. Postal Inspectors Service and was happy to see them showcased in a film featuring such a top talent. I was also afraid that it would come out of Hollywood as your basic bit of brainless showbiz supercops nonsense. What an enjoyable relief to find my fears groundless. This film portrays solid, realistic, believable and honestly likeable characters doing their jobs in one of the worlds finest and least-known law enforcement services. The writing is solid, the direction crisp and the performances first-rate. Highly recommended.

This one is well above the usual standard for a TV-movie. The plot, involving the investigation by two postal inspectors (Gossett, Jr. and Silverman) following a mail-bombing. The performances are outstanding and very believable, and are able to create a great deal of genuine suspense in the otherwise formula plot. Louis Gossett, Jr. is great as always, and Jonathan Silverman not only supplies some enjoyable comic relief, but shows a surprisingly effective flair for drama. All in all, a very suspenseful and extremely well-made movie. I suggest you give it a look.