Detective Tom Hardy (Willis, Die Hard) is having a bad week. Strike that, a bad year. First off, there is a crazed serial killer on the loose in Pittsburgh, strangling women and taunting the police by calling them as he murders the victims and plays The Stones' "Little Red Riding Hood." Next, he was the star witness against his partner and cousin, Detective Jimmy Detillo (Robert Pastorelli, Murphy Brown) in a police brutality case and now Jimmy is on the way to jail and the entire police force, except for his father, Lt. Vince Hardy (John Mahoney, Frasier), is against him. Before he can blink, Jimmy has jumped off the bridge into the river, causing pandemonium in the family and on the force. Add to that the fact that the serial killer has led police on a deadly high speed car chase and by the time it ends in a pile of twisted metal, he will have escaped leaving Tom badly injured and his father with a bullet in his corpse.
Tom believes the killer is a member of the police force, always staying one step ahead of the law, but his very vocal theory doesn't sit well with fellow boys in blue, especially his uncle, Capt. Nick Detillo (Dennis Farina, Law and Order), Jimmy's brother, Detective Danny Detillo (Tom Sizemore) and Detective Eddie Eiler (Brion James), who make no secret of their disdain for Tom. However, strangely, the serial murders stop.
Two years go by and in that time, Tom finds himself off the regular force and a member of the river police or the "river dogs" as they are called. He makes no friends there either, spending his days drinking and angering his partner, diver Tony Sacco (Timothy Busfield). Eventually, he finds himself with a new partner in the form of Jo Christman (Sarah Jessica Parker). While the two are initially at odds, they soon learn to appreciate each others' skills. Then the murders begin again, only this time instead of being strangled, the women are shot and are dumped in the river along Tom's patrol. He begins finding the bodies and is disturbed to discover that each woman was a former lover of his. Soon, he is spending all of his time investigating the crime off the books, certain that he is being set up to take the fall. As he and Jo get closer to the truth and begin to fall for each other, Tom discovers Jo has a few secrets of her own. The climax has a nice little twist to it and wraps up well.
While the plot is solid and the acting is decent, nothing about this film screams "must watch." It's an okay yarn and would do for a rental, but the intro and the background music are rather cheesy and 70's sounding and honestly, I felt like I was watching a 70's or 80's police drama much of the time. The transfer to high-def looks good and the picture is crisp, but again I ask, "Why this movie?" There is nothing special about it to warrant a Blu-ray transfer. There are no special features save for a few previews and there's nothing really to justify a purchase unless you just happen to be a huge fan of this movie. A rental at best.
