Gave the new Netflix movie Spenser Confidential a try. This is a movie based on the Spenser detective novels (which I’ve never read) which were also the basis of the 80s show Spenser For Hire (which I never watched). But apparently the actual movie uses a plot from another writer’s book, inserting the Spenser characters. Or something.
The flick follows Mark Whalberg’s Spenser, an ex-cop just out of prison. On the first day back in Boston, a couple cop deaths make him suspicious so he starts investigating (instead of just moving to Arizona). What follows is a pretty standard-issue, by-the-book action/mystery flick about crooked cops and criminals.
The opening of the movie gave me hope it was going to be something more interesting. There was a fresh vibe and it was funny. That sense of humor hops in and out of the movie, sometimes making fun of tough-guy movie tropes. When it was light on its feet like that, I was enjoying it. But, unfortunately, the movie’s plot isn’t great and it gets bogged down by a pretty typical, pretty generic detective movie plot.
Mark Whalberg plays Mark Whalberg largely… I guess the humor at his expense is unique. He’s joined by Winston Duke who plays a Man Called Hawk (who isn’t at all as cool as Captain Sisko). Alan Arkin wanders around the movie being Alan Arkin.
I don’t have much else to add. The end action was all right and the humor worked well enough but the movie was just predictable and generic. Fans of tough-guy fiction and maybe Spenser character may enjoy it.
Score: 71