Spenser Confidential (2020)

“Before I sentence you, is there anything further that you would like to add?” – Judge

“Yes. The son of a bitch deserved it.” – Spenser

Number of Times Seen – 1 (17 Mar 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A former detective, just released from prison tries to solve the murder of the police commissioner who was the reason he went to jail.

My Take on it – I have always been a fan of Peter Berg-Mark Wahlberg collaborations and was quite thrilled to see what this one would bring.

They present a great story but it is unfortunate not done in a thrilling enough fashion.

None of the characters are developed well enough and they all come across as stereotypes or superficial the whole way through.

This movie’s protagonist is based on a character who had numerous novels written about him.

In addition, there was a TV show that lasted 3 seasons about this character.

Both of those mediums have the ability to develop these characters over a longer period of time which is something this film and its characters lack.

As a mystery, it doesn’t work well enough because it moves along at a really slow pace and too much of what happens is a bit too predictable.

The action scenes are a bit too tame yet they still manage to add a few thrilling chase scenes into the mix.

Bottom Line – Great idea that just isn’t presented well enough. The characters all feel a bit too superficial and aren’t developed well enough for us to really care about them. The main character is based on a character who had numerous novels written about him and even a TV show that lasted three seasons which allowed for things to be developed so much better in those mediums. The story itself is meant as a mystery yet it moves along far too slowly and becomes much too predictable as things move along which is a shame. I’m kind of surprised that after having four previous films together, this is the first one with Wahlberg and Berg that just doesn’t manage to stay entertaining enough like the others.  This movie has some fun action scenes which allow for there to be some thrilling chase scenes even if in certain cases, things are far too tame.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Very loosely based on characters from Robert B. Parker’s “Spenser” series of mystery novels. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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