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| Striking Distance | 
 enlarge | Category: Movie
Buy New: $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 8416
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 103
ASIN: B000I9X528
Theatrical Release Date: September 16, 1993
Release Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 AWESUME August 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
IT IS A REALY GREAT MOVIE IF YOU ARE A BRUCE WILLIS FA N YOU WILL WANT THIS THE ACTION IS OFF THE WALL AND HE GETS THE GIRL PLUS HE GETS TO HAVE HIS REVENGE FOR HIS FATHERS MURDER
 Enjoyable But Lazy July 18, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
There are two mysteries to "Striking Distance" (1993) which drive this movie and provide the character motivation; as things build toward a climax (and only ten minutes remain to wrap everything up) you know that two has to be one-that the same thing will be the answer to both questions because not enough time remains to untangle two "different" sets of misdirection.
Of course first-time viewers applying first-class logical reasoning skills will never guess the answer, because someone (presumably the writers) cheats at the end and introduces the deus ex machina device. Dating back to Greek tragedy, deus ex machina is when an artificial character is suddenly introduced to untangle a hopelessly contrived plot. Looking back for clues to the involvement of this character you realize that there are none and that the writers have intentionally kept the audience ignorant, a cheap way to surprise the viewer, the drawback being that the technique makes it impossible to inject even the tiniest bit of suspense into the viewing process. What clues there are were inserted just to jerk the viewer around.
They cheat again with another of those stupid villain resurrection fight sequences at the very end. You know this tired stuff, show evidence that the villain could not possibly have escaped then have him Jason-like magically surface alive and kicking. The sad part being that it doesn't work (which must have been obvious during the editing process), it is totally unnecessary, and it could have been seamlessly trimmed out during post-production. Lose those moronic 20 seconds and you could add about 10 IQ points to the target audience.
That said, it is otherwise an entertaining film. Bruce Willis plays a trouble-making Pittsburgh cop named Hardy and.... big surprise.... he's unpopular with the department brass. He is demoted and paired with Sarah Jessica Parker patrolling the three rivers for the River Rescue Squad. Their romance is predictable but the chemistry is good and the relationship has a nice low-key charm. The river patrol provides an opportunity to stage some nice 1940's style action and chase scenes. Hardy is very easy to identify with so you can get a nice vicarious rush from his point-of-view.
Handy is unpopular because he testified against his first partner in a police brutality case, because he insists that a serial killer is still at large, and that only someone on the force could be the serial killer. So mystery #1 is the identity of the serial killer. Mystery #2 is who killed Hardy's father (a police Captain) about the same time as the first round of serial killings. . His uncle (Dennis Farina) is on the force, and at one time so were two of his uncle's sons, Hardy's cousins and childhood friends. Not much is revealed about them because doing so would require a much more intelligent screenplay. One seems to be a violent nut case so you know he could not possibly be involved in the killings.
Roger Ebert summed it all up nicely in a template: "A rebel cop stirs up trouble and is disciplined, but determines to stay on the trail of a serial killer, while meanwhile he is assigned a partner that first he hates and then he likes, while the killer cleverly tries to frame him. Add several chase scenes and a deadly confrontation in which all of the key characters magically congregate at the same time."
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
 Vintage Bruce Willis outing. March 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you like hard hitting, no-nonsense, gut wrenching action performed by a realistic and honest actor who always manages to do the right and fair thing, you will find that here, as in all of Bruce Willis' movies. They leave you satisfied at the end and a little out of breath, but every thing has been put right before it is all over. This one is full of action as always and he has the requisite number of close calls, but comes out the winner of the girl and the game. It also presents a good exposure of the city of Pittsburg and its water front on the rivers that meet there to form the mighty Ohio River.
Bruce vs. the wretched serial killer July 5, 2005
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Bruce Willis would not be the first actor to bag on their own work. Some people might take the fact that an actor bags on their own work as a very authoritative statement and not bother seeing such a film. If the actor doesn't like their own film, why should anyone else bother? But I think such need not always be the case, and this movie is one good example. And artist is always critical of their own work, and rightly so. But just because they see things they don't like about their own work or something else about a film they are in, does not mean that others will certainly see the same things for the same reasons.
After seeing a trailer for this movie on a dvd I have, I came upon an IMDB post about a Bob Costas' TV interview (I've never seen it myself) and Bruce Willis saying he knew this movie was crap when he was making it, and that this experience made him decide to choose projects based on the projects merits and avoid Hollywood tripe. For this and other reasons, I did not bother to pursue getting the movie at the time. Recently, I came across this movie in a Wal-Mart $5 discount bin and being a Bruce Willis fan I grabbed it. After watching it, I find it easy to say that even though I don't care much for movies involving serial killers, this was a decent enough flick that would have been worth it had I paid $10 instead. It could be defined as typical Hollywood tripe, especially if you're an actor who's been in the business for years and are looking to expand your horizons. But not all tripe is truly tripe. Bruce did a decent enough job going up against the killer, and the movie was not just tired and boring and by the numbers. It looks and sounds good, has good production values and cinematography, is fairly suspenseful and entertaining. In the big picture it's probably fairly typical of this type of movie, but if you want to see Bruce Willis go through the paces in the taking down the serial killer routine, it's a decent and interesting take on it all and without a lot of in your face gore or anything.
Incidentally, I and plenty of others think that Hudson Hawk rocks! Some people just don't get it I suppose.
Fully entertaining..! June 16, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a great movie, there is nothing you can not like in this movie.
Bruce willis as well as the rest of the cast did a good job in this movie with very good acting, the plot is also entertaining with some twists in it, the whole thing about how all the family members of Bruce are cops is just cool, reminded me a little of cop land (town of cops), but this movie is even better than cop land.
Tom sizemore performance was also noticable, even Sarah jessica parker was good here.
currently, i only own a VHS copy of the movie, but if any one have not seen it yet, my advice is to buy the DVD because this movie is worth it and is FULLY ENTERTAINING !
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