Revenge of the Pink Panther

Incorrectly pronounced dead after his car crashes and explodes, Inspector Clouseau goes undercover to investigate whether an attempt was made on his life in this fifth Blake Edwards 'Pink Panther' film. As with the previous entries, everything is buoyed up by Peter Sellers perfectly playing a bumbling fool completely oblivious to his own incompetence. Sellers has a deliciously absurd array of disguises this time too, including a pirate get-up with inflatable shoulder parrot, and Burt Kwuok nicely has a chance to add dimension to Cato, who helps Sellers in his investigation this time, rather than just randomly attacking him. Promising as the film may sound, it sags more often than its predecessors with lags between jokes. Herbert Lom also has too little screen time, not appearing at all for over half an hour, despite second billing; his looks of disbelief, wondering if he has gone mad as he keeps seeing the supposedly dead Sellers alive, make for an excellent running gag that is not used often enough. The film is also let down by its most effects-driven scene in a fireworks factory paling by comparison to a very similar bit in 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. With Sellers solid as ever, another lot of great animated opening credits (Dyan Cannon's name appears on a cannon here!) and Lom and Kwuok giving it their all in their all when on screen, 'Revenge' is still a worthwhile film, especially for fans of the series. Sure, the formula begins to wear thin this time, but 'begin' is the operative word as this entry is really not as far below par as one might expect from its reputation.