The Rookie (1990)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Detective Nick Pulovski	Clint Eastwood	½
Detective David Ackerman	Charlie Sheen	½
Hans Strom	Raul Julia	½
Liesl Strom	Sônia Braga	½
Eugene Ackerman	Tom Skerritt	½
Sarah Ackerman	Lara Flynn Boyle	½
Lieutenant Raymond Garcia	Pepe Serna	-
'Loco' Martinez	Marco Rodriguez	-
Ken Blackwell	Xander Berkeley	-

Review

The Rookie marked Clint Eastwood's final appearance as his classic tough guy cop persona (not counting A Perfect World), and with good reason. The 60-year-old limps his way through this antiquated picture, which despite being made in the 1990s is like stolen from a 1970s catalogue in everything from aesthetic and characters to the crash-and-burn-based action sequences. And no, it's not because Eastwood (the director) aims for some kind of throwback with any sort of ironic distance. Even if that final scene admittedly gives his retired cop persona a somewhat graceful exodus. That's at least some self-reflection on Eastwood's part. But the same cannot be said of his directing here, which is about as clumsy as the screenplay by Scott Spiegel and Boaz Yakin. The casting of Raul Julia and Sonia Braga as the sadistic antagonist couple is... bizarre at best. Somewhat remarkably, Charlie Sheen is the best thing about this picture. Also with Tom Skerritt and Lara Flynn Boyle in interesting but underdeveloped bit parts.