Imagine three American cops all sleeping, some on the floor of the police station, when they are woken up by a telephone call about a homicide. For a change a Hollywood film appears to be real, unusually real.
A few minutes into the film and you see the cop-cum-photographer letting a murderer slip away just to save another man's life. You sit up. How many cops do that? This script is not the usual stuff.
Some minutes later, you are shown the cop picking up newspapers for his neighbors and placing them outside their doors. What's more, when a lonely female neighbour offers him a possible sexual tryst for free, he refuses. and he doesn't have a wife or a regular girlfriend. This is the same man, who obliged a cop's taunt for a group photograph of the crowd near the homicide spot. But the director never obliges the viewer who is wondering why the cop took that "group" photograph.
The character of Mad Dog is not the only one richly developed by the intelligent script. Those of Glory and Fran Milo also develop as the film progresses--only Thurman's Glory almost overshadows De Niro's Mad Dog. The script, Thurman and De Niro raise the level of the film above the ordinary, while you wonder why the director began with the senseless gory killings, why the director had the "group" photograph taken, and why sequence of De Niro dancing to a juke box was necessary.
The film attempts to flesh out several colorful characters and as character studies the film is definitely good entertainment and value for money--while the overall structure of the film will disappoint you. Now in Europe the film would be accepted but I will be surprised if the average American will love this inward looking film that leaves much to be desired on the technical front.
A few minutes into the film and you see the cop-cum-photographer letting a murderer slip away just to save another man's life. You sit up. How many cops do that? This script is not the usual stuff.
Some minutes later, you are shown the cop picking up newspapers for his neighbors and placing them outside their doors. What's more, when a lonely female neighbour offers him a possible sexual tryst for free, he refuses. and he doesn't have a wife or a regular girlfriend. This is the same man, who obliged a cop's taunt for a group photograph of the crowd near the homicide spot. But the director never obliges the viewer who is wondering why the cop took that "group" photograph.
The character of Mad Dog is not the only one richly developed by the intelligent script. Those of Glory and Fran Milo also develop as the film progresses--only Thurman's Glory almost overshadows De Niro's Mad Dog. The script, Thurman and De Niro raise the level of the film above the ordinary, while you wonder why the director began with the senseless gory killings, why the director had the "group" photograph taken, and why sequence of De Niro dancing to a juke box was necessary.
The film attempts to flesh out several colorful characters and as character studies the film is definitely good entertainment and value for money--while the overall structure of the film will disappoint you. Now in Europe the film would be accepted but I will be surprised if the average American will love this inward looking film that leaves much to be desired on the technical front.