Detective Knight: Rogue

Whoever gave the green light to make this film, should be ashamed. Bruce Willis clearly for the past few years, even before his condition was made public, no longer had the competency to act. Yet studios still sign him to make these cheap DTV films to capitalize on his fame and make a few dollars.

Detective Knight's plot was entirely incoherent and uninteresting with no help from the bland characters. It was difficult watching any scene with Willis, as he can only mutter a few words and nod when spoken to. Unfortunately, due to his illness, his personality and charisma are gone. As a consequence, his supporting cast have to frequently say lines most likely meant for his character or respond in ways that hardly come across as an authentic conversation.

I cannot give any reasons as to why anyone should watch this film, even if you are a die-hard Bruce fan. His name is just being exploited here. Go rewatch him in his old glory, and avoid this at all costs.

L. A. police detective James Knight (Bruce Willis) and his partner track down four masked armed robbers and a gunfight ensues. His partner is heavily wounded and Knight vows to track down the perpetrators. The group is led by Casey Rhodes (Beau Mirchoff), a former star quarterback who lost everything in a point shaving scandal. They are backed by bookie gangster Winna (Michael Eklund) who has a corrupt past connection with Knight.

Bruce is a step slow and more robotic. It shows in the first shootout scene. He barely is able to get down. With his illness, I was surprised that he actually attempted an action scene. During the last act, they actually put a mask on his character so a stuntman could do his work. They tried very hard to cover for him. In fact, he's only the Lead in Name Only (LINO). The lead is really Beau Mirchoff. I like him and I like his character. He has depth. He's great. The situation with Bruce is obvious and distracting.

I used to be a big fan of Bruce Willis, but most of the movies outside the Die Hard franchise except for the fifth element and the red series, were not particularly interesting. This movie is probably one of the worst. I lasted through about twenty minutes then boredom won out. It starts out strong with a thwarted armored car heist, but goes downhill from there. I will not comment on Bruce Willis acting in this as I know he is ill. I do wish him well. The other actors are wooden and lack any nuance to their performance. The script is very week. The movie totally fails to draw in the viewer, I was being overly generous when I gave it a 2.

Detective Knight: Rouge is directed by Edward Drake and stars Bruce Willis, Beau Mirchoff, Jimmy Jean Louis and Michael Eklund. The story follows veteran detective James Knight (Willis) who pursues a group of thieves from LA to New York after they shoot his partner but soon finds his past conflicting with his current case.

So by now we all know the unfortunate state Bruce Willis has been in which led him to make a bunch of DTV dreck the last few years. Since we're nearing the end of his career I decided to review his last few DTV flicks. I'm pretty sure he has three more in the can (with this being the first in an already filmed trilogy) and Paradise City with John Travolta set to release within a month.

I was a bit surprised to see that this was actually a little more polished and competently helmed than some of Bruce Willis' recent DTV movies. However, as part one of an already planned trilogy, Detective Knight: Rogue suffers from a convoluted plot and a lack of screen time for its main protagonist. Sadly, we don't see Bruce for long stretches of time as the movie focuses on the thieves, as well as a few other side characters that are intertwined with the plot. It's a shame because Bruce is actually giving an okay performance in this. He's in a lot of shots and only on occasion is it noticeable that he had his body double fill in for him. This movie really felt a little more cinematic and you can tell Edward Drake and co. Put more time and effort into this one.

I do also have to give a shoutout to the fact that Bruce does get a cheer-worthy John McClane-like one-liner at the very end that made the entire movie worth sitting through. It's a brief moment that makes me wish more of this movie were like that.

Having seen American Siege and now this movie both with Bruce Willis, it is clear that he just mails it in. He used to be entertaining but now is a complete waste of time.

The script is predictable and the acting wooden. Even the action scenes are poorly executed. Maybe they revived great tax breaks to film on location and show off the city

It is like Bruce just wants to have a few old friends around from movies he has made in the past. For example Trevor Gretzky is in his last two movies; is he a friend of Wayne?

If this is a trilogy I will simply avoid any more of Detective Knight and Mr Willis.