Review of Magnum Force (1973) by Mark P — 30 Mar 2009
Nice flip from the first film, as Harry is confronted with a twisted version of his own methods. However, since Harry has become a iconic pop figure, the film starts to treat him as a bit of a generic badass cop. It's still entertaining, and nobody does it better than Eastwood.
The film starts out promising enough, as there are moments when you get the impression that Harry might just join up with the vigilante cops. Then, of course, Harry's friend is killed accidentally, and then these guys have just gone too far. The killing of the friend is actually great character-wise, because there's an undercurrent that Harry would've just let it go, but these kids just got sloppy. That being said, the death of the friend, even in '73, was so over-used. (especially when we hardly have any idea who the dead man was, or why he matters to Harry...Hell, you get the impression he's about 10 minutes from sleeping with the guy's estranged wife.).
Hal Holbrook brings real class and chops to the proceedings, and gives Harry his best opponent outside of Scorpio.
This review of Magnum Force (1973) was written by Mark P on 30 Mar 2009.
Magnum Force has generally received positive reviews.
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