200 Items Or Less: McBain (1991)

A few thoughts: Oh man, this movie is dripping with political commentary. But not the good kind that works itself into a narrative without feeling like you're being preached at. No no no, this is the kind of movie that wants to ram commentary down your throat and force you to swallow. The result is, predictably, a movie that thinks it's a lot more poignant than it actually is. But even more than ham-fisted social statements, this movie is guilty of an even greater sin -- a misuse of not only one, but TWO great actors: Michael Ironside and Christopher Walken. Granted, they both tend to thrive in even the worst of the worst movies, but the direction they're given here seems to come from a place of genuine misunderstanding. And that's something pervasive throughout the whole movie -- misunderstanding of what the movie is and should be. It's a dumb action movie that thinks it's a smart action movie, it has a great main cast that it doesn't understand how to use, it fills the plot with characters and scenarios no one is interested in, and it does all of this while having the pieces to a perfectly enjoyable puzzle sitting right under their noses. "Frustrating" doesn't quite cover it.

Who would I recommend it to? I wouldn't.

My grade: F