Change Your Image
florianposch
Reviews
The Rookie (2018)
It's a mess but it kind of works...
To make it short: The Rookie is an entertaining crime/police show and it keeps you watching, even if it leaves mixed feelings...
On one hand, the producers are trying to show realistic police work, including authentic lingo and procedures/rituals, on the other hand, this is exaggerated by inexperienced cops having more shootings and high-profile operations in their first year than most real cops in their lifetime. At least, I hope a real LAPD department doesn't run like that, even for senior officers like Tim Bradford.
Once you get over that, it is an entertaining mixture of action, drama, personal issues of the main characters involved and some comedic elements, held together by a motivated and diverse cast you can mostly root for. The Rookie puts you somewhere between action popcorn cinema and Friends, you just have to put your expectations right.
The main weak point is the script, with cases way above the paygrade of patrol officers, things often happening too fast too easy and kafka-esque moments that would keep a show like Prison Break running for a season (or at least several episodes) usually resolve in 40 minutes of an episode. Some characters are written out of the series in the worst kind of way after their actors left the show and the tone changes in seasons 2-3 where the storyline revolves a bit too much around racism, police brutality and community policing to organically integrate into the plot. Research tells this was demanded by the actor of Officer West who is of color and wanted the storyline to reflect more on this matter, which is fine, it is as legit as making this a good-clean-fun police advert, if it is done right - but it sometimes just feels as if the story elements are there to make a statement, the social media human rights activist is just too much of a cliché, dealing with 5 jobs and your daily yoga sessions, etc...
However, the biggest problem is that The Rookie loses the (relative) realism of the first season. There is an element of vulnerability in the season #1 that vanishes as the rookies move up the ranks. The chance of making career-ending mistakes adds to the drama but as soon as everybody passes their exam, they become pretty much unbeatable superheroes, casually surviving gunfights, even off-duty against several enemies. Nolan's first gun incident causes a major investigation, suggesting he was at fault, later on he shoots people in the dozen and no questions are asked at all. Taking away the "beginner" element also takes away a lot tension that can't be compensated, even by the sheer amount of over-the-top storyline. At some point, every character was involved in a major conspiracy, blackmailing or other type of major crime. Just out of their freshmen year, they can become whatever they want, undercover agents, training officers... even established cops in their ranks for years start to change positions and move up the career ladder after Nolan, Chen and West hit the scene.
Another thing is how character build-up works, here... The mainstream characters are well-introduced and built up, but on the other end, just dumped by the of a season, I mean West is one of the main character for 3 seasons, then gets killed without further explanation and there's not even a funeral scene. Perhaps there was some personal struggle on set but I still feel there is too much lazy writing.
Now this review sounds largely negative but the rest is actually enjoyable, character interaction is good and there is definitely chemistry between some couples on-screen and I like the comedy element. Production value and visual esthetics are top-notch, too.
I'll keep watching but I wish the authors would aim for a little less than everything for the upcoming seasons and give The Rookie a more human tone, again.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Don't believe the buzz... just turn your brains off and relax,
Admittedly, as 80's or 90's child, after watching the trailer and following the social buzz around it, you could instantly hate this as another franchise which was sacrificed for creating a modern rip-off that even breaks with original (male) cast and characters.
For some reason, I still gave it a chance, maybe because there's not too much must-see movies around in summer months and I thought it could be funny if I just see it as a standalone- movie not having to care with all that Ghostbusters legacy.
And surprisingly, it did a pretty, pretty good job in entertaining me, nothing more, nothing less...
The female cast in general did a pretty good job in playing their quite diverse characters, their performances ranging from okay-ish to insanely funny - I really fell with in love with Kate McKinnon and her playing the bats**t crazy Jillian Holtzmann.
Despite of what you've heard or read before, its clearly not a feminist version of the original - way too many stereotype jokes pulled off, some even trying too hard ("That stuff went everywhere..."). In general, Ghostbusters goes for every potential joke, goof and stereotype, but most of the time, it just scores. Maybe too much, but not for me... sometime I appreciate a high pace of stupidity and can deal with a simple plot and several inconsistencies. I really had to laugh quite hard and absolutely think it was worth the money - I'd watch it anytime again, at least on Free-TV.
Regardless of the character overhaul, it still picks up most of the traditional elements of the original movie in terms of equipment, locations and even ghost characters, maybe it even tries too hard with lots of references and many original cast appearances. Could be an excuse for the female cast thing, though....
Some also complained about the cheap CGI but I think they were clearly above average, in ghost detail animations as well as on New York City total shots when hell finally breaks loose.
To sum it up: Get rid of expectations, anger about the remake and any feminist prejudice and just enjoy a 'good clean fun' summer blockbuster - there's still more love and detail in it than in the new Die Hard movies.