Reviewer finds movie ‘relentlessly’ stupid
By Jim Hanna
Staff Reviewer
You often can learn a lot about a
movie just by reading the advertising
poster.
Perusing the poster for Judd Nel
son’s new movie “Relentless,” one
will be assaulted by the following
declaration: “Killers aren’t bom,
they’re made.”
That is an awful lot of insight for a
movie poster. Now if the movie could
only be half as insightful.
There is little that’s relentless
about “Relentless” except relent
lessly bad dialogue, relentlessly eli
cited ideas and relentlessly stupid
moments.
Judd Nelson is the center of the
movie as Buck Taylor, a young man
who was taught to kill by his aggres
sive, military father.
The drab, superficial point the
movie seems to be trying to make is
that young Buck was exposed to guns
and violent behavior too much as a
child, and now is a cold serial killer.
Get it? Gun-happy fathers raise psy
cho killers.
Buck finds his victims from a
phone book in the Los Angeles area.
He has a soft spot for victims with his
given name: Arthur Taylor. Still he
does murder a couple of people who
are not named Arthur Taylor, and so
the dramatic impact of this script
choice is lost
As he kills his vic
tims he breathily
says things like,
"There, isn’t this
easy?" or “Do not
fight it, doesn’t this
feel better?"
—Hanna
He usually surprises his victims in
their homes and allows them to par
ticipate in their own death. For in
stance, he wraps one victim’s hands
around the knife before plunging it
into his chest. It is not his intent to
make it look like a suicide; he wants
people to know it’s a murder.
As a matter of fact, his intent with
this gimmick is never learned. Ap
parently, it’s just another one of the
moviemakers’ efforts to demonstrate
that he is crazy. That’s what all crazy
people do, you know.
Two detectives are assigned to the
case. Robert Loggia plays the weary
Los Angeles veteran who doesn’t try
too hard. Leo Rossi plays a newly
promoted detective who used to work
in New Yoiic. Of course the movie’s
creators, devoid of a single original
concept, infuse a great deal of friction
into this detective team.
The eager detective from New
York wants to solve the crime his
way: put hundreds of workers on the
case, follow every lead, pour over
every bit of evidence. He wants to
solve it in his gritty, work-ethic, New
York way.
The veteran from Los Angeles,
numb to it all, seems content to sit
around and wail for the crimes to
solve themselves.
Eventually, after the movie has
exhausted every buddy-cop-don’t
get-along, isn’t-this-gripping cliche,
they begin to cooperate and make
progress on the crime.
Finally, the movie drones on and
on to its lame, yet merciful, end.
Congratulations must go out to
Nelson who Ms chosen to go against
his movie image and play a disturbed
murderer. Unfortunately, his charac
ter is far too uninventive to appreci
ate. He’s a very stereotypical, silent,
psycho killer.
He says very little in the movie
and what few lines he does speak are
tiresome re-hashes of typical
“crazy” slashers. As he kills his vic
tims he breathily says things like,
* ‘There, isn’t this easy?’ ’ or “Do not
fight it, doesn’t this feel better?”
Eeek ... how chilling.
Loggia is the strongest actor in the
show, doing the type of character he
does best, the craggy, no-nonsense
cop. Rossi, however, is bland, uncon
vincing and painful to watch as he
tries to be a much tougher guy than he
seems capable of playing.
The tense moments in the movie
are not tense, the frightening mo
ments are not frightening and the
funny detective banter is not funny at
all.
Save your money and simply read
the poster outside of the theater. It
costs less and is more entertaining
than the movie.
From the people who brought
you all those other really bad
films...
Thumbsdowne Pictures Inc.
'where tad movie* iren'i born, they're made *
Presents
RELENTLESS
<4r HA bomb... I left after
15 minutes."
-John Bruce,I’layborc
-4r "l wanted to use the
knife on myself!"
-Rob Holiorff, Ruling Stone
+ "Relentlessly bad
dialogue, relentlessly
cliched ideas and
relentlessly bad
moments.
*
-Jim Hanna, Daily Nebraskan
Classified 472-2588
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