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 Oh,
how the mighty have fallen...
Remember
the good old days, when the prospect of seeing a Harrison Ford
movie was something to get excited about? After all, we are talking
about the guy who played Han Solo and Indiana Jones in some of
the greatest movies of all time, not to mention box office hits
like The Fugitive, Witness, Air Force One and two of the
Jack Ryan movies.
Well, judging
by his recent track record, which includes box office duds like
K-19: The Widowmaker and Random Hearts, those days
are long gone. OK, so 2000's What Lies Beneath did well,
but the success of that film owed more to Michelle Pfeiffer's
incredible performance and Robert Zemeckis' Hitchcockian direction
than it did to Ford's supporting turn.
Unfortunately,
it seems unlikely that the action comedy Hollywood Homicide
will return Ford to his former "sure thing" status,
and for three good reasons. For one thing, it's not very funny;
second, nobody wants to see Harrison Ford play the loser he plays
here; and finally, it's hard for a big actor like Ford to do a
small movie like this. Beyond that, director Ron Shelton's cop
story, which arrives just 4 months after his last LA-based cop
drama Dark Blue, is a slow-moving, generic, cliche-ridden
vehicle that represents career suicide for all involved.
Veteran LA
police detective Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) may be at the top
of his game, but his personal life is in shambles. He's been married
three times, he drinks like a fish, and his finances are all tied
up in a palatial Hollywood estate that he can't get rid of. His
young partner K.C. Calden (Josh Hartnett) is not only having doubts
about being a cop, but he would much rather focus on his side
career as an aspiring actor. When Gavilan and Calden get caught
up in a high-profile murder investigation involving a rap group,
they have no choice but to focus on the matter at hand in the
land of blue skies, palm trees and dead bodies.
Despite its
best efforts to re-introduce Ford to a younger, hipper audience,
Hollywood Homicide is a missed opportunity in almost every
way. The two cops are already partners, so we never get to see
them clash as they find their way in their professional relationship.
In addition, the whole prospect of having two cops with conflicting
side jobs should have been ripe with hilarity, but the jokes are
surprisingly lame and uninspired. There's also a weak subplot
involving an internal affairs investigation of Ford's character,
but it feels incredibly contrived and doesn't gel with the rest
of the film.
Moviegoers
expect a lot from Ford, so it's hard for him to kick back with
a more lighthearted role where he doesn't have to save the universe
from terrorists, Nazis or stormtroopers. In this case, he seems
terribly bored until the film's climactic car chase (which pales
in comparison to those found in The Italian Job, 2 Fast 2 Furious
and The Matrix Reloaded),
and he looks awkward when standing next to co-star Josh Hartnett,
who's a good two inches taller than he is. Ford and Hartnett are
also hampered by their limited range, which makes one wish that
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were cast in the film instead (at
least they're right around the corner in Bad Boys II, which,
ironically, was co-written by Shelton).
At least
some of the supporting performances hold up, particularly Lena
Olin, who's quite sexy at 47 and has a kinky, amusing love scene
with Ford (the best scene in the movie). Martin Landau seems to
be enjoying himself as a Lew Wasserman-style producer who's trying
to have Ford sell his house, while Bruce Greenwood goes over the
top as the Internal Affairs investigator who's constantly busting
Ford's chops.
Writer/director
Ron Shelton may have hit a home run with Bull Durham, a
film that many regard as one of the greatest baseball movies of
all time, but as evidenced by recent films like Dark Blue
and Play it to the Bone, it's obvious that he's lost his
touch. The same goes for Harrison Ford, who seems to be caught
in the throes of a career midlife crisis. To that extent, I can
only say this...
Start cracking
that whip, baby, 'cause Indiana Jones 4 can't get here
fast enough.
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