Spenser Confidential (2020)

When two Boston police officers are murdered, ex-cop Spenser teams up with his no-nonsense roommate, Hawk, to take down criminals.

Jess's Review

Another day, another film; this time, courtesy of Netflix. Spenser Confidential, starring Mark Wahlberg, is one of their originals, a new release with supposedly a 93% match to our personal taste. Ha. Let’s give it a whirl.

Spenser Confidential follows the story of Wahlberg’s ex-cop-turned-convict-turned ex-con, as he strikes up an unlikely alliance with new roommate Hawk (Winston Duke) in solving the double-homicide of two crooked cops. There’s a lot of little twists and turns here as the movie tries to find some depth, trying to delve into a gritty underworld that is occupied by two-dimensional, stereotypical villains. It didn’t grab me. I didn’t care for any of these characters. (Except maybe Pearl, who should be protected at all costs.) Their development was conveniently fast to aid the story, the dialogue dull and relationships pretty bland. Sure, there were a few cool fight scenes and the odd chuckle - for me, usually elicited by fiery Iliza Shlesinger. She was great, going so far as to inspire me to give Sam just a little more attitude to keep our relationship spicy.

The performances were ok. I don’t think anything was particularly note-worthy, but nothing was outright bad either. I just didn’t connect to this story and found my attention drifting in the final quarter. It wasn’t a bad effort, just most definitely not my cup of tea.

Cute dogs though.

4.5/10

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Sam's Review

I can sum up Spenser Confidential in one word. Obvious. Though, really, one word alone should never describe a film. It's as unfair to the film as it is to the reader. If anyone stumbles across this review, I apologise. However, it is obvious.

The bad guy was insultingly obvious. I called it the moment they were on screen. (That isn't a brag, I'm sure that everyone else did too.) The plot was obvious, and lazy. The ending was obvious. Even the set ups for potential sequels were obvious. Two scenes, both conversations over food, come to mind. Quick PSA, film-makers, please stop shoehorning set ups for sequels into films. Unless they come naturally, a genuine rarity, it's just desperate.

It's a shame, I am a Mark Wahlberg fan. If he's not a great actor, which he may well be, he's certainly a phenomenal movie star. It just seemed that Netflix couldn't believe their luck at getting him in a film of their own and grabbed the nearest script and threw it at him. They should have read it first. Someone should have read it first. It's a tired film, going through the motions in the attempt to create a franchise. If I am being overly harsh, it's only because Peter Berg's and Mark Wahlberg's Lone Survivor collaboration is a personal favourite of mine.

The film is certainly watchable, and Iliza Shlesinger is a stand out as the loud, and at times obnoxious, Cissy, but even her character was a little (wait for it...) obvious. Noticing a theme?

4/10