Serpico (1973)

Sidney Lumet's biographical film, based on the book by Peter Maas, is the always interesting story of Frank Serpico and eleven years of his career as an undercover policeman, a period in which he took a stand against police corruption - against both the grass eaters and the meat eaters -  and he is an impressive man, thanks to Pacino's great performance, but the film never manages to convey the sense of danger he no doubt faced.

★★★★☆

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Reptile (2023)

They went to a lot of trouble to make this thriller atmospheric, muting colours and asking an ensemble of fine actors to speak and move at snail's pace, but they forgot to include anything or anyone that viewers can care much about, so there's not a whole lot of interest in the case of a real estate agent's murdered wife or in the question of whether Benicio Del Toro's worldweary cop can solve the crime.

★★★☆☆

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D-Tox (aka 'eye see you') (2002)

Cops in a snowed-in detox facility are being picked off one-by-bloody-one in this movie, more mindless slasher than intelligent whodunnit despite the classic Agatha Christie set-up, with Sylvester Stallone playing a cop undergoing treatment for trauma after his own wife fell victim to an eye-poking serial drill killer with a ridiculous sprawling, poorly defined modus operandi, naturally still on the loose.

★☆☆☆☆

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