Typical Mark Wahlberg flick with likeable actors. Nothing new, still entertaining. I don't get why some people have to analyse this kind of movies to death just because it's not Oscar material.
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heulnicht6 March 2020
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clarkishome6 March 2020I was a fan of the original Spencer for hire series on TV. Seeing that Mark Wahlberg was raised in the Boston area this is a just right fit for him. Having grown up in many different cities, including the Boston area , this movie brings a lot of memories back. Wahlberg brings his unique sarcasm, wit and physical presence to the role. Although it is somewhat different than the series, it is a good PI movie that you will enjoy. The thing that people have to remember is that you have to judge movies based on categories. This will never win an Academy award, but I would not compare it to titanic or pretty woman because that's not the type of movie it is. This is an action, comedy, and some what of a mystery. If you're looking for a good action movie with unique personalities and some comedy thrown in, this is your movie, enjoy.
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pia-ellefsen22 March 2020I love a good action movie! I like Wahlberg, I know what to expect if I see his name. Take it for what it is, a action/entertaining movie. And stop bit**'in about it's this and that! It's entertainment 😃
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mandorallen-the-lion6 March 2020If you're taking this more seriously than that you weren't paying attention. There's not a moment in this movie where they submitted any requests for you to think higher of this than a fun flick. Try judging it on that.
It was fun. For fans of die hard and such. Was it dark and depressing like many crime drama's? no. Was it stupid like most comedy crime dramas? no. Was it boring like most everything else? no.
Fun characters, with great people acting them, obviously. Alan arkin for god's sake. (but she stole the cake if we're honest) Plot was never slow. Setting is always engaging. Boston is just fun . . . -
Instant_Palmer18 October 2020Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg were on the same page when drawing up this neo-noir action-comedy buddy film.
Never aspiring to more than great entertainment with the simple message that sometimes the good guys DO win, and doing the right thing is the only way to live one's life, the dynamic duo of Wahlberg (Batman) and Winston Duke (A linebacker sized Robin) "upper-cut" punch their way through a fringe dirty-cop cartel in Boston as "everyman" heroes.
Alan Arkin takes on the "Alfred" role with his usual perfect droll advice and view of the world, and Iliza Shlisinger as a South Bostie version of Lois Lane (yes, I know LL comes from a different Super Hero comic;) rounds out the Bat-Team.
Lots of fun and action once the back-story is developed enough to set the stage, with a perfect mix of wry humor doled out throughout.
The cliched story of your average Joe/Jane rising to extraordinary circumstances to help out a wronged good cop by a cartel of bad guys and bad cops, works in this film, which does not apologize for being great fun, and does not pretend or aspire to be more than it is.
In the age of fake news and political agendas, great to sit back and enjoy a couple of hours of feel-good good guys win fantasy.
New action franchise? Potential for sequel is approximately 65%. -
TwistedContent6 March 2020Netflix makes a bunch of great stuff, often hits and misses, but in the niche of action/blockbuster movies, Netflix has a real knack for landing in the average and underwhelming section. "Bright" and "6 Underground" are spot-on examples & now "Spenser Confidential" has joined the bowl of expensive but mediocre action flicks.
"Spenser Confidential" is Peter Berg's fifth movie in a row (!!!) starring Mark Wahlberg, and the last two were a downgrade for both. Spenser (Mark Wahlberg), an honest, hard-headed ex-cop with a strong moral compass gets out of prison, reconnects with his mentor Henry (Alan Arkin) and his new roommate Hawk (Winston Duke), a no-nonsense MMA fighter with heart. Spenser got in prison for trying out some vigilante justice & that is exactly what he's going to do for the entirety of the movie, just now with his new friend Hawk. The story is as old as the world and nor Peter Berg nor the screenwriter Brian Helgeland (who really can do better than this) has done anything much to spice it up. "Spenser Confidential" has comedy, action, sentimentalism and all the basic, vital ingredients, none of which rise above the level of average. It's kinda like the movie's sort of 'muted', like softened up, watered down, muddled, call it what You want. You've seen and felt all of this before, probably a load of times. So, looking for silver linings, the cast (mostly) provides decent performances, some jokes land and some action parts are well done and edited. The pacing could've been worse. Visually, it's pretty standard, not confusing or amateur, just standard. One would say, meaning me, that the R rating hasn't been utilized much at all, apart from some swearing, one or two machete cuts and a clothed sex scene. Mehh.
"Spenser Confidential" is a lukewarm blockbuster, a lackluster cop/vigilante/p.i. action flick, an expensive movie made by big names and starring good names and that's about it. It's a light-hearted adventure, an easy Sunday watch, but the kind you're not very likely to remember. My rating: 6/10. -
balevine15 March 2020I liked the movie but I can't understand why they changed the story line from the wonderful Spenser series written by Robert Parker. Spenser and Hawk are amazing characters why change that? Why change Susan, Spenser's beau and psychologist into Cissy the dog groomer? Where's Belson? Why is Pearl a basset hound and not a golden retriever? I think they should have just named the movie Confidential and changed all of the characters names which would have made the movie more credible.
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claudio_carvalho16 March 2020In Boston, the former police officer Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) is sentenced to five years in prison after beating his dirty Captain Boylan (Michael Gaston). On the day that Spenser is released, Captain Boylan and an honest police officer that was Spenser's friend are murdered. Spenser decides to investigate and teams-up with his roommate Hawk (Winston Duke) that lives with him in the house of their landlord and friend Henry (Alan Arkin).
"Spenser Confidential" is an entertaining action-comedy-crime film directed by Peter Berg. Mark Wahlberg's character is predictable following his code and the movie is funny in many moments. The conclusion is a cliffhanger for a possible sequel. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Troco em Dobro" ("Double Change") -
allanmichael3019 December 2020This is not real life or braking new grounds in story telling but fun to watch and would watch again as very entertaining. The main actor Spenser is like an X-men character that can heal as he gets smashed up, Mulled by dog, slashed by a machete and still carry's on.
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daderdog7 March 2020Whatever the good you can say about this film, it is NOT a Spenser and Hawk story. Whoever wrote it took the names of the main characters and glued them onto a random buddy cop story. I like Wahlberg and Arkin is a great actor. But there is nothing in this movie which Robert Parker would recognize as the great characters he created. The most disappointing part is Hawk. In the books and the original series, he is a force of nature - cool, deadly and competent. Winston Duke is probably is a fine actor, but they wrote the character as if he were Michael Oher in the Blindside.
All that said, this is a good enough distraction as a whodunit action film. It has enough action, humor and conflict to fill the time. I do think they were trying to set this up as a pilot for a new Spenser series. -
Don't listen to the "critics". We enjoyed the movie from start to finish. Why can't people just sit back, enjoy and not overanalyze a movie? Sure, we've seen it before but we know all the stories of the comics and Marvel and superheroes and Disney and we still watch it right lol
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jester-405646 March 2020Sure this movie doesn't break any new ground, but its a fun & entertaining action movie.
The plot is basic. Try and get to the bottom of a police cover up. They throw in a twist or two to make it interesting (that you'll probably see coming), but it doesn't take away from the enjoyment. Wahlberg & Duke have a great chemistry together, both have some funny moments, and along with Arkin, its what sells the movie and will keep you watching.
The choreography in the fight scenes is also good. It looks very raw and authentic. The bathroom & restaurant brawls are the standouts. The only negative is that the fights scenes throughout the first hour or so are all very quick. All are under 2 minutes, and feel like they could (and should) have gone on longer.
Overall, I'd recommend giving it a watch -
This is not a terrible movie. But it's an unforgivably terrible Spenser movie.
If you want to make a generic 90s buddy action movie, go ahead. I'll watch and enjoy along with the rest of them. But don't call it a Spenser movie unless you plan to make a Spenser movie.
These aren't some shoddily drawn characters from an 80s TV show that you can recycle like the big screen versions of popcorn fare like The A Team, Dukes of Hazzard, CHiPs or Baywatch. These are characters with distinct lives, back stories, and ways of talking and acting that millions of readers are intimately familiar with through 45 years worth of novels.
Wahlberg and Duke are fine, but they bear no relation to Spenser and Hawk. The end credits claim this was based on the novel "Wonderland", but the fact that it has an old dog track called Wonderland in it is not enough to make that claim. This plot has no connection to the novel at all.
The fact that Spenser starts out as a felon means, as one character helpfully points out, he can't get a P.I. license in Boston. That's literally the entire character - that's who he is! Spenser gives his reason for taking on this case as something do with the widow reminding him of his mother. But Spenser never even knew his mother!
One of the writers on this is Brian Helgeland, who is a perfectly good screenwriter - he wrote LA Confidential (is that the reason for the title of this one? What the hell does Spenser Confidential even mean? I'm none the wiser after seeing it). However, Helgeland clearly isn't a Spenser fan. I would question whether he's even read one of the novels.
And THAT is why, for the people who don't get it, this perfectly fine, run of the mill generic action comedy is getting some low ratings. It's not because people are expecting an Oscar worthy film. It's because people expect an incredibly popular and well loved franchise might be treated with the tiniest bit of respect. -
The-Sarkologist17 March 2020Well, it seems that I got myself caught by the Netflix algorithm that suggested that this film was quite popular in Australia. Honestly, I probably should have done what I normally do and check the rating on IMDB to determine whether I actually want to waste my time watching it or not. Anyway, it did happen to star Mark Whalberg, and he does happen to be a pretty cool actor, and his movies aren't all that bad either, so I decided to give it a go.
Anyway, the film is about this guy named Spenser who beat up his sergent and ended up in gaol (oh, he is a cop, to avoid any confusion). Anyway, he is finally released and he is trying to put his life back together when he discovers that his former sergent, and another cop, have been killed. Suspecting that there is something fishy going on he decides to investigate, despite the fact that not only is he not a cop, but that he is also a convicted felon.
Well, it turns out that there is this massive conspiracy involving corrupt cops, the Irish mafia, and Mexicans (yeah, it has to be Mexicans doesn't it). Anyway, you can probably work out what eventually happens because, well, this is one of those films that is like that. Mind you, the whole explanation as to why he landed up in gaol happens halfway through the film, and yeah, it is an exposition, but sometimes you really can't avoid it. Mind you, while you can generally guess the ending, half the fun of such films is working out how they got there.
Yeah, this is another one of those corrupt cops trying to make money type films because, well, being a cop doesn't actually pay all that well, and it turns out that it is the honest ones that end up suffering. Look, as a film it wasn't too bad, but it really wasn't all that outstanding either. In a way it does seem to be trying to be one of those gritty crime dramas, which I do happen to like, but it doesn't quite have the same charm that the really good ones happen to have. I guess in a way it has a lot to do with is being a straight to Netflix type of film.
Look, if you like crime dramas then you may like this one, but the reality is there is nothing about it that makes it stand out. In a way it is just another film that simply adds to the list of the thousands of films that are already out there, and there are most likely much better ones to watch than this particular one. -
jeopardyrobot-4105518 July 2020I liked it for what it was. It was fun and the characters were good. However it was obvious halfway through the movie that the plot was very interesting but the movie didn't have the time to fully flesh it out and as such the ending is abrupt and rushed. Especially for such a so called massive conspiracy to be run by a mid range cop. Maybe if the movie didn't stop every 5 minutes to have Mark wahlberg have a fist fight with 5 dudes they might ha e had time. But I still enjoyed it. Alan arkin is always a pleasure
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mlsanders-663136 November 2020An entertaining movie. Certainly not one that is going to receive any Academy or Golden Globe nominations, but who cares about that. It was still entertaining. They could have done without so much foul language. It didn't add anything to the storyline. In fact, it detracted from it. They definitely left the door open for a sequel or a TV series.
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Floated224 May 2020Nothing exactly special about this film. It is the typical Mark Wahlberg actioner, and directed by Peter Berg whom they made several great films together (Lone Survivor, Patriots Day), we knew somewhat what to expect. This is an upgrade from the underwhelming Mile 22.
However knowing that this film went directly to Netflix rather than theaters like their previous collaborations, the expectations shouldn't be as high.
With an interesting premise (had no knowledge of the original material) Spenser Confidential does what it's intended to. Deliver an engaging enough plot, some thrills and action, sone typical comic relief. Well likened characters.
It started off relatively well then dragged a little in the middle but finished solidly. Perhaps just a one time watch but that isn't exactly a bad thing. -
tiagocampos-0291822 March 2020So flawed and silly but...what the hell. It was entertaining!
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alisonbol21 July 2020The best movie in action mark always delivers he's one of the best actors so it's normal to say that
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fleck05IMDB14 March 2020Go in knowing what you're getting and have fun. The actors are good, the music is great, the script is very, very weak. But it's a decent Friday night B movie. Those of you who are too young to remember Robert Urich in the 1980's series (your dad probably liked), Spenser For Hire, IMDB TV has that show. Robert Urich was the man.
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It was a below average film, no great action scenes, no great dialogue and an incredibly unoriginal story line. The whole thing just felt lazy.
The movie is watchable and it presumably achieved what it set out to achieve by being a run of the mill, forgettable film. -
If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the movie. There's nothing new in the storyline and it has all been done, but if you like this kind of movie you'll have a great time. I liked the humor in it and the characters are likeable too. I'll gladly watch it again in a few months or so.
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Eric26615 March 2020First off, I enjoyed the movie as a strict action/detective flick. Wahlberg is likeable in just about everything he does. Alan Arkin as Henry Cimoli was perfect. Iliza Schlesinger as Cissy was sexy (those breasts!) and comical. Her standup gets annoying so keeping her screen time to a minimum in this move was a good choice. Winston Duke didn't do much with the character of Hawk other than looking imposing because he was big, not because he oozed menace. Still, it was a fun action movie that moved along at a brisk pace and had lots of great action scenes.
However, this version of Spenser has next to nothing to do with the book or TV series character other than his name. I'm not sure I understand why they bothered calling it Spenser if they changed everything about the character. The series ended over 30 years ago so its not its not like it had great name recognition. They could have called it Joe Confidential and it would have had the same impact. Spenser was a renaissance man. He was streeet smart, suave, quoted literature, was a gourmet cook, had a moral code, was loyal to his girlfriend (Susan; a college professor) and was kicked off the force for being a smartass and not blindly following bad rules, and never went to jail. Hawk and he met as young boxers and went their separate ways, one into law enforcement and one into the criminal life. They crossed paths many times, but respected each other, even if it meant squaring off against each other. Its what made their relationship special. Its why I gave the movie a chance, to see if they explored their earlier life together. I guess it did that, but they went for the cheap character development in favor or more smash ups and fist fights. Wahlberg and Duke as roommates at Henry's place was just lame writing. There was so much fertile ground that could have been covered here and they blew it.
As I said in the first paragraph, it was an enjoyable movie, but it didn't do anything to distinguish it from every other action film that gets made these days. Spenser is a unique character with such a rich background and that was just ignored for more set pieces. -
barcham_996 March 2020Anyone old enough or familiar with the Spenser for Hire television show of the 80s will have trouble watching more than 10 minutes of this poor rehash of the concept. Robert Urich and Avery Brooks had more class in their discarded fingernail clippings than these guys have in their entire bodies. Avery as Hawk was an incredible character with unmatched class, and he exuded POWER from every pore. His character was spun off into his own series, A Man Called Hawk. Brooks was so identified with this character that his Deep Space Nine's Capt. Sisko was quickly turned into Hawk from the lacklustre original character he portrayed.
Urich was the perfect Spenser, intelligent, well-read and a great cook among other qualities. If it seems that this is more a review of the TV series than the movie, well I guess that is because people would be better off watching the TV series than yet another tepid big screen rehash of a loved series that should have been left alone. Hollywood seems to be totally bereft of new ideas, and this is one more time they have gone back to the television troth to find something. For some reason, they have yet to learn their lesson as not one TV show rehash has been successful to date. Not one conversion to film has been able to capture the original spirit of the television show and this is just one more failure. -
negoitavladnicolae6 March 2020Obviously it's not masterpiece and but it's exactly that kind of pleasant movie on a Friday night.