Relentless

This crime story has some scary scenes, with an especially memorable one early on with a woman hiding in a clothes dryer. In fact, the first half of this is excellent but it peters out that point with two typical Hollywood clichés of crime movies of the period.

They are: 1 - the good cop (Leo Rossi as "Sam Dietz") going it alone despite the orders of his superior; 2 - the killer going to the good cop's house to kill his family. Too bad it stooped to these obvious story lines because this could have been an outstanding serial-killer movie. As it is, it would up being slightly better- than-average. By the way, what's with Meg Foster's eyes? It looks like they have no pupils. It's eerie to look at that woman's face.

This movie spawned several sequels and the sequels were better and better as they went along.

This one's funny because it's your basic procedural potboiler about a hotshot rookie detective and his grizzled old partner tracking a murderer, which, yeah, is pretty standard, except here the grizzled old partner doesn't really do anything. He doesn't help solve the case, he doesn't mentor the rookie in any meaningful way, he doesn't offer any profound insights into life… all he does is sit around and bitch and moan about how work sucks and how the boys at the crime lab can take care of it. It'd be like if Morgan Freeman had spent the whole run-time of 'Seven' playing cards with that crew in the library and let Lab Tech #1 do all the work.

Two Los Angeles detectives (one a veteran, the other a rookie) work the case of a psychopath who is killing people in the Sunset Blvd. area of L.A. The film is not a whodunit. The script's POV alternates between the Sunset killer (played by Judd Nelson), and the two cops (played by Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi).

The only mystery is at the beginning, with the killer's motivation. But that clears up as the plot moves along. The film offers a fair amount of suspense, as the killer pops into scenes unexpectedly to assault his victim. Some of the drama involves feisty banter between the two detectives, with the rookie showing insight and unorthodox determination, while the veteran seems slightly bored and wants to follow conventional police procedures.

Though fictional, the overall story is believable enough that something like this could happen in real life, if the dreadfully clichéd ending had been excised and replaced with an unexpected and more potent climax.

Visuals are dark, consistent with the thriller genre. Cinematography is conventional but competent. I really liked the opening credits' sequence with that overhead perspective that traverses a stretch of Sunset Blvd. Acting is competent.

"Relentless" manages to present a more believable villain than what we typically see in fictional serial killer scripts. And the plot steers clear of silly absurdities that plague similar films. I just wish the ending had been stronger and more original.

There have been a million wackos on the loose with two determined cops on his trial type of movies, but this one at least tries something new with the murders. They are your standard knifed or strangled variety but the killer doesn't just do it. He makes the victim help out somewhat, by putting the knife, piano wire, etc. into their hands and then forcing them to effectively off themselves.

Judd Nelson rules in this flick. I'm surprised nobody seems to know about this one. If you see in the store, give it a try. I think you'll be entertained. Rossi is pretty good in this too. His banter with Loggia is straight out of a buddy-cop movie encyclopedia, but it works.

The first entry in this series is mediocre. Although it's okay to watch if you have nothing else to do or watch, it really isn't more than that. Resembles a made-for-tv movie.

Give this movie a go, its a pretty good one.

8/10

Judd Nelson rules in this flick. I'm surprised nobody seems to know about this one. If you see in the store, give it a try. I think you'll be entertained. Rossi is pretty good in this too. His banter with Loggia is straight out of a buddy-cop movie encyclopedia, but it works.