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Magnum Force is the somewhat less successful follow-up to 1971’s classic Dirty Harry. The film definitely suffers from sequelitis in that it keeps many of the components that made the first film great, but it does it in such a formulaic bland manner that it doesn’t really pay off. While the film can’t hold a smoking magnum muzzle to Dirty Harry, taken on its own it’s not that bad. It’s simply not that special… unlike that kid around the corner that wears the drool bib.

This time around Dirty Harry finds himself hot on the trail of some vigilantes who are killing every scuzzball in sight. Oddly enough, Dirty Harry doesn’t think this is a good thing… maybe it’s because he wants to waste the punks himself. Whatever the case, Dirty Harry must find and stop the vigilantes before there’s no one left for him to kill; in the process, he will stumble across a couple of red herrings, a few poorly timed twists, and a Chinese chick who wants to fuck his brains out. It’s not a bad two hours for Dirty Harry, but for the viewer, there’s a little something missing.

Much of the fault for this film’s lack of impact falls squarely on the shoulders of Director Ted Post. Post’s film is put together rather sloppily with a bevy of continuity errors and a lack of energy that would make a 500 pound man feel like Lance Armstrong. The film plods along at a snail’s pace, and the writing doesn’t help as Dirty Harry has a shitload less to do this time around, which is only compounded by the fact that Dirty Harry is saddled with the dead weight of Felton Perry, who plays his partner Earlington Smith. The film looks like shit in many spots and the editing is choppy throughout.

Clint Eastwood seems lost throughout the film, almost as if he was trying to humanize the character and give him more of a range of emotion than simply “badass.” The end result is a Dirty Harry that is a far cry from the excellent version in the original film. Eastwood rises to the occasion in a few moments, but for the most part, the writing doesn’t allow for anything spectacular or memorable from Eastwood… except for the random observation from Dirty Harry when three hoods walk into a grocery store and he says, “There’s three salty-lookin’ dudes.” The rest of the cast is average at best, but does include early performances from Robert Urich and Tim Matheson.

The violence and the bodycount in the film is just right. Bullet wounds are pulled off with some great squib action and there are enough dead bodies thrown around to keep the film from ever becoming truly boring. Still, most of the kills lack impact because of poor cutting between special effects pieces, stuntwork, and aftermath scenes. Example: A person gets shot, squibs go off, cut to poorly matched stuntman falling, cut to the original actor lying there dead. It doesn’t flow and detracts from the brutality of the film, making it seem as if it’s softer than it is.

Magnum Force is one of those sequels that seems rushed because people wanted money, not necessarily because they wanted to make a good movie. Dirty Harry is still a badass… but the Dirty Harry from the first film would chew this version up and shit out a Dirty Harry deuce. The film is too long and not exciting enough. It’s still worth a watch if you enjoyed Dirty Harry the first time around… or you want to see a stereotypical pimp kill a hooker with a can of drain cleaner.

Final Synopsis: This movie is average. Magnum Force isn’t anywhere near as awesome as Dirty Harry, but it is ok in its own right. Give it a watch if you love cop flicks and vigilante shit.

Points Lost: -1 for poor directing, -1 for poor editing, -1 for being rather bland, -1 for a weak story and lack of a thrilling nemesis

Lesson Learned: Whenever you see three shady fucks, you have to say, “There’s three salty-lookin’ dudes.”

Burning Question: What is the fucking point of Dirty Harry having a partner? It seems he’s just there to say, “Hey we got a black dude in our movie… and he’s not a pimp or a hooker… but we’re still going to blow his worthless ass up.”

Magnum Force
6/10

Tags: 1973, action, adventure, buddy cop flick, clint eastwood, cop movie, crime, crime drama, crime thriller, david soul, dirty harry, felton perry, hal holbrook, latest movie reviews, mitch ryan, police story, recent, robert urich, ted post, there's three salty lookin' dudes, tim matheson, vigilante