<em>'The Dead Pool'</em>, whilst being the weakest of the <em>'Dirty Harry'</em> films and feeling a little out of place, is still good fun in my opinion. Clint Eastwood is supreme once more and is joined by some standout names in Liam Neeson and, to my big surprise, a certain yet to be famous <a href="https://letterboxd.com/actor/jim-carrey/">Canadian-born actor</a>! This one features a very silly plot but it does make for mindless entertainment. I had a solid time with it, anyway. There is one ridiculous, yet amusing, car chase sequence. Due to that, and other parts, it kinda doesn't feel like it quite fits with the other releases, though that's not an issue in my eyes. Overall, it ends an enjoyable series well.

Someone clearly made a conscious decision to lighten the mood with this “Dirty Harry” (1971) sequel by introducing a bit more pith into the dialogue and a few lightly comedic elements to the scenarios but for me that just turned something a little bit special into something a little bit ordinary. “Callaghan” (Clint Eastwood) is causing ructions at the station because he won’t play ball with the media. Determined to keep him from himself, his captain allocates him a Chinese-American partner “Al” (Evan C. Kim) to not only track down a serial killer but also to improve the department’s optics! As to the killer, well he doesn’t seem to much like celebrity either and so is rather brutally - and ingeniously - bumping them off. What surprises our curmudgeonly policeman is that he seems to be on this hit list, and with their investigations leading them into the murky world of film-making where “Swan” (Liam Neeson) might seem an obvious candidate, their investigations get underway - at no slight cost to the city! Eastwood does enough here, and the buddy-cop theme is played down so as not to steal his limelight too much, but the story is weak and played out using too much cinematic gimmickry - dark, creepy, locations and over-mixed audio, before a piercing denouement that is a bit rushed and falls a bit flat. It passes the time fine and showcases Eastwood’s less-is-more style adequately, but as a follow-up it is disappointing.