MovieFreak.com - "Hollywood Homicide" DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

DVD REVIEW

Hollywood Homicide (2003)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Josh Hartnett

Director: Ron Shelton

Rating: PG-13

Distributor: Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Release Date: October 7, 2003
Review posted: October 6, 2003

Spoilers: Minor

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

Synopsis

Two LAPD detectives who moonlight in other fields investigate the murder of an up-and-coming rap group.

Critique

Those two detectives are Joe Gavilan (Ford) and K.C. Calden (Hartnett). When Joe isn't chasing bad guys he sells real estate, and when K.C. isn't trying to be a cop he teaches yoga to beautiful women and rehearses for a play (A Streetcar Named Desire). But a rap group is killed inside a hot club run by Julius Armas (Master P) so they have to work together in order to catch the killers. Hollywood Homicide doesn't do anything to redefine the buddy-cop genre. Instead, it just meanders from and to all sorts of places and characters.

I liked most of Ron Shelton's work on Dark Blue, a much more serious and grittier look at the police environment and hostilities set during the 1992 LA riots. That film paired Kurt Russell with Scott Speedman creating some generally good chemistry. In retrospect, the teaming of Ford and Hartnett doesn't pay off very well. First, Ford looks kind of tired and basically walks through the role. There are a few times when he puts his charm to use, but those few moments are not enough. Secondly, Hartnett is not that interesting and I've never really cared much about his persona or acting.

The type of dysfunctional cop-pairing Hollywood Homicide employs has been done before, many times before. I've read somewhere Ron Shelton intended the film to spoof the buddy-cop genre, although for the past few years that idea in itself has become some sort of spoof. Additionally, the script, by Robert Souza and Ron Shelton, is pretty heavy. Aside from the main homicide investigation, Hollywood Homicide throws just too many subplots at the viewer, such as the Internal Affairs investigation. They kind of hinder the film from moving along and maintaining an interest. A solution to help the film would have been to eliminate one or two of them. One subplot plays directly to K.C. Calden, which involves the on-the-job killing of his father back in the day. It resolves rather nicely, but on top with all the other subplots resolving its impact loses significance. To put it simply, there is too much going on at one time. Like I said earlier, the film rambles.

Despite a tired genre, Hollywood Homicide gets some things right. Entertainment value is not too high and not too low. The action is fun to watch, especially a foot chase through water and over bridges, as well as a pretty exciting car chase towards the end of the film. Dialogue is sometimes stale, such as when Joe asks record producer Antoine Sartain (Isaiah Washington) some questions. At other times the dialogue is free-flowing and enjoyable. Sometimes the comedy fails while at other times it works rather nicely. Somewhere during the first hour Joe sees two guys stealing his car. He lets them go, but K.C. intervenes and fires a few rounds at the oncoming vehicle. It turns out the two thieves are repo guys. A funny bit occurs in a scene late in the film involving Ford's character closing a sale on a property estate while chasing Sartain through a building.

Hollywood Homicide is not a bad film, though it makes itself a pretty easy target for such criticism, but it's not a good film either. The genre is a tired one and the script tries to fill in too many different subplots at one time. It also doesn't help when the story's main homicide investigation is not at all interesting or compelling. Ford and Hartnett share a few good scenes. As a whole the film's cast is pretty impressive. I wonder how Ron Shelton got them all in here, but it's a nice combo. All in all, despite its ambiguities and rambling, Hollywood Homicide is an OK film.

The Video

Columbia Tristar presents Hollywood Homicide in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen. The presentation is pretty good. Colors look bright and well-saturated. Edge enhancement shows up in a few places, but they don't impact the presentation. The transfer is not terrific, but it allows the film to show off Hollywood in a pretty nice light.

The Audio

Columbia Tristar presents Hollywood Homicide in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Dialog scenes are clear and easy to understand. The soundtrack, which consists of rap songs half of the time, gives the speakers something good to work with. Alex Wurman's film score sounds applicable at first, but becomes repetitive soon after. Sound effects are aplenty with surround sound reinforcing such sounds as gunshots and screeching tires. Overall, this presentation is pretty nice.

A French Dolby Surround dub track is also available.

The Extras

The only big supplement here is a low-key audio commentary by Ron Shelton. He keeps his comments generally screen-specific, but also goes off to include information pertaining to the production and locations. In general, this track is not too interesting so don't bother listening, especially if you don't care for the film.

Also included are filmographies and a set of bonus theatrical trailers (such as one for Ron Howard's The Missing, and two trailers that are actually 30-second spots for Ford's Air Force One and The Devil's Own).

You can select to view the film with optional English and French subtitles. The DVD’s menus are not animated but easy to navigate. The 116-minute feature is organized into twenty-eight chapters.

Overall

I don't really see a point to recommend Hollywood Homicide for home viewing unless you care for the genre or the two main stars. Video/audio quality is pretty good, but the extras disappoint. Rent it sometime down the line.

RATINGS SUMMARY