Homicide - The Movie

Homicide - The Movie
by Jean de Segonzac

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DVD Reviews of Homicide - The Movie

DVD Review: "Who's the fourth chair for?"
Summary: 3 Stars

The major driving force behind "Homicide: The Movie" was to reunite as many of "Homicide: Life on the Street's" cast members as possible. How does one accomplish this? The answer comes in the form of having a man that many of the characters liked (or at least respected) get shot down. Former Lt. Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) is running for mayor of Baltimore, when he is gunned down at a rally. He is rushed to the hospital, and news of his brush with death spreads quickly throughout the area. Soon, every single one of the living detectives who had worked in the Homicide unit during the series' run have returned to the squad room. Much has changed since the time that they were there. Only one of the show's original characters, Meldrick Lewis, is still an active detective in the unit. Stu Gharty, a man many people did not respect, is now the shift lieutenant. The squad room is painted blue. And Jason Priestley (of 90210 fame) has joined the cast as a brash, new detective.

The detectives (old and new) begin to investigate the shooting of Al Giardello. John Munch & Stanley Bolander (Richard Belzer & Ned Beatty) re-unite and work together, as do the popular Frank Pembleton & Tim Bayliss (Andre Braugher & Kyle Secor). If there is a problem with "Homicide: The Movie", it is that in its quest to bring together the over 20 regular and semi-regular (as well as guest-starring) members of the cast of the original show, the usage of that cast is spread very thin. In fact, as it was when the series was on the air, the plot basically revolves around Pembleton & Bayliss. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as they are two of the show's strongest characters. It is simply a matter of time allowance. It had been years since Ned Beatty had been on the show, and perhaps a bit more time devoted to his character wouldn't have been such a bad thing. Or that of Melissa Leo's strong role as Sgt. Kay Howard (another favorite). At any rate, it was interesting to see everyone come back together again, one last time -- even the "dead" characters.

There are some twists and turns in "Homicide: The Movie", as well as a couple of surprises. One of them is semi-predictable, if you'd followed the series up to its final episode. Still, it is devastating. The plot line of investigating Giardello's shooting progresses well enough, although sometimes it feels haphazard, as certain scenes are thrown in, simply for sake of providing something for each of the cast members to do. The last few scenes, once the shooting is solved, provide both a nice, and a not-so-nice coda for the characters that fans of the show grew to know and identify with over the series' seven season run.

In the end, "Homicide: The Movie" seems concerned with wrapping things up, and with tidying loose ends left over from the final episode. I'm not sure whether or not I like this. In many ways, the last episode left things in a way which seemed more natural. Not every answer was solved, not every character's destination was known. Now, with "The Movie", we have almost more answers and finality than I find desirable. It made me pine for the show's early years, when it was simply a deep, gritty, and heartfelt cop show. Ah, those were the days.

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