Spoilers for Striking Distance to follow.

“They shouldn’t have put him on the water if they didn’t want him to make waves.”

Can’t you just imagine the voice over guy saying that tagline in the trailer (Here you go)? It’s the pitch perfect set up for this A+ trash 90s action thriller from the director of Road House (!) and co-starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, John Mahoney, Brion James, Tom Adkins, and a babyfaced Andre Braugher.

I think it’s important to note upfront that this movie is not as special as Road House. That movie is an absolute 80s machismo masterpiece that’s oft imitated but rarely bested.

Striking Distance is a cliche ridden, unsurprising mystery thriller that has Bruce smoldering his way through every minute and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love every god damn second of it.

In the film, Bruce plays a disgraced Pittsburgh detective, whose entire family is made up of cops btw, that got busted down to water duty after testifying against his partner (who was also his cousin) in a police brutality case AND voicing concerns that a local serial killer is actually a cop! Two years after the murder of his Police Captain father by said killer, Bruce’s character, Tom Hardy (!!!) gets a chance for redemption as the killer starts up again, this time targeting women from his past. Honestly that’s just scratching the surface, but I’ll leave it to you to discover just how silly this movie gets.

There is a very specific itch that Striking Distance scratches for me. A middle of the road 90s action flick that barely works as a narrative but stays afloat thanks to solid action (practical stunts and car chases go a long way in this house) and Bruce Willis playing in the wheelhouse he works best in: alcoholic cop actively living and loving being at rock bottom. The movie even has one of the best exposition dumps of the 90s by way of TV news report within the first 5 minutes. Just incredible. The whole thing has a real scummy vibe to it as well. Just about every character in the movie (save for Bruce, of course) is a liar or cheat of some kind, but everyone is definitely an asshole (including Bruce, of course). In short, this movie was made for me.

Not everyone loves what I love though. The film had a notoriously rocky production, and after a terrible test screening had to go back for reshoots that are all too painfully obvious to point out (the wigs are truly terrible). Critics felt it was just a much poorer rehash of Willis’ better work (precisely why I love it) and audiences mostly agreed, as the film topped out at $24 million domestically, though a profit was made thanks to an additional $53 million internationally. That made three disappointments in a row after The Last Boy Scout and Death Becomes Her. Thankfully, a certain up and coming writer/director had a nice juicy part for Bruce in his movie that would prove that Ol’ Bruno still had the goods.