Review of Unlawful Entry (1992) by Jennifer A — 04 Apr 2005

Just as I said that [u]Million Dollar Baby[/u] (Clint Eastwood, 2004) shows how easy it is to make a good movie, [u]Unlawful Entry[/u] is a classic example of how easy it is to make a bad one.

The story opens with somebody breaking into the home of a couple played by Kurt Russell and Madeline Stowe. They hear a noise, and then Stowe's character immediately concludes that it?s probably somebody breaking in. Not the wind, not the house settling, not a car outside, but definitely somebody breaking in. And guess what? She?s right. To that end, They call the cops, and one, played by Ray Liotta, talks them out of buying a gun. If that doesn?t tell you he?s a bad guy, the camerawork and downright musical queue used when he appears should, so where's the suspense? And as you might imagine, old boy falls in love with Madeline Stowe?s character, and he?s a nut, creating a stalker movie, ala [u]Hand That Rocks the Cradle[/u] (1992, Curtis Hanson), [u]Swimfan [/u](John Polson, 2002),.

Or the originator,[u] Fatal Attraction[/u] (Adrian Lynne, 1987). He begins destroying Kurt Russell?s character?s life, forcing a confrontation between alpha and modern male of [u]Kalifornia[/u] (1993, Dominic Sena) proportions, only not as good, and that?s pretty much that. There are so many unlikely and yet lucky coincidences, characters who behave in unrealistic ways, and convenient stupidities that like I said, you can just follow the story and notice how many simple, little things (like the opening I mentioned for example) make this a stupid movie.

So let?s talk about what?s good about it. The idea of a movie about a cop as a bad guy, and how cops really do have so much power over us, if they abuse it, would make a good movie. I mean, I really was intrigued by the way police really can falsify any kind of evidence they want and make anybody into a crook if they feel like it. But this film, with its Black good guy partner, lawyer who mortgages his own house to get his client / friend out of jail based on nothing, and bad guy who murders the heroine?s friend but then hides her in the closet, where anybody could find her if they just went to put on their shoes, defies any of that. It?s crap, but didn?t have to be.