Rating: ****1/2
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitchell Ryan
When Dirty Harry (1971) came out in theaters back in the days, audiences saw the birth of a future pop culture icon Inspector Harry Callahan, a cop who gets assigned to "every dirty job that comes along" and handling them through means crossing professional boundaries, all in the name of his own vision of justice. In that movie, Callahan went bullet-to-bullet with an insane sniper going by the moniker Scorpio and as impressive it is as a movie (perhaps one of the best action flicks ever) it doesn't really challenges you to ponder on whether or not you should empathize with its villain.
Scorpio was a heartless, manipulative psychopath who demands money under the false pretenses that he'll stop his killings should he get his ransom, so it's no deal-breaker that we'd root for him getting the hot leaded end of Callahan's controversial yet well deserving sense of justice, but what will the inspector do should he face someone who lives by the same brand of antiheroism, set to the extreme? This is where Magnum Force (1973) comes in.
The first sequel of many following the further high caliber cop adventures of "Dirty Harry", it starts with mobster Carmine Ricca being acquitted of a mass murder on a legal technicality. Smugly driving away from the court with his cohorts, Ricca and company soon got the attention of a motorcycle cop and asked to pull over in an isolated road due to some traffic violation. Unbeknownst to them, this is all just a foil as the cop proceeds to execute all of them with gunfire.
Among the many to respond to this eventual crime scene is none other than Inspector Callahan, alongside his partner Earlington "Early" Smith. Although supposed to be on stakeout duty, the Inspectors have no qualms sticking their noses in this circus, though their superior Lieutenant Neil Briggs thinks otherwise and would rather have the two take down other baddies instead, including a couple of plane hijackers and a gang of pharmacy store robbers.However, it seems the cop-gone-rogue is far from done being judge, jury and executioner as San Francisco's underworld continues to thin down. Hoping to end the threat as soon as possible, the city's police department have no choice but to assign Harry on homicide to help with the investigation, leading him to suspect the vigilante is someone within the department after one too many coincidences concerning the deaths and a particular new recruit.
The whole film is practically a cop drama with a small slice of proto-slasher action as the scenes involving the vigilante cop strongly resembles the stalk-and-kill style of later slasher villains, only with a handgun. The vigilante cop is shot mostly from the neck down whenever they appear on screen at the early half of the film, an obscuring technique used for plenty of horror movie killers, and the executions they bring have this focused build-up that often ends with brutal results. All of this working its way to a climactic cat-and-mouse chase between Callahan and the vigilante-type inside an abandoned harbor bay, not so unlike the slasher finales between a masked killer and the final character.
Cleverly, these scenes are incorporated into the story with a rather thought-provoking take as while the killings only target those criminal types at first, it gradually starts to include those that just happens to be in the way the further the plot goes. This gives both our main casts and the audience new grounds to cover regarding grey area characters, identifying with them regarding their goals but also questioning where exactly do we draw the line, an exceptional and intriguing position to put the likes of someone who isn't that big of a fan of the law as "Dirty Harry". Even more noticeable is that while not out riding through the city of San Francisco looking for hoodlums to kill, the rogue is a rather likable individual, particularly during the times they're just shooting the breeze in vigorous zeal with the then-unknowing Callahan.
In the midst of this, Magnum Force still doesn't forget its run-in-the-mill shoot'em up thriller roots, fortunately, so while this concept of grey shade law enforcement is tackled, the film is no short of the random misadventures of inspector Callahan thrown here and there to pad time, establish a tone and/or keep the main mystery exciting. Some of them works, others are cheesy for how odd they are, but they're there to entertain and entertain they did.
It also helps Callahan in this sequel is portrayed to be less angry than he is in Dirty Harry (1971), keeping it chill and even smiles a lot more despite getting the bad end of the stick or receiving a mouthful from Lt. Briggs or any higher officials. He takes his time to calculate his moves and even isn't shy on hinting a genuinely calm and humorous demeanor underneath his tough as nails personality.All in all, whether you see it as an action flick or a potential proto-slasher, this is a movie that does little wrong but isn't guilty of missing an opportunity or two; some characters are introduced that could have been expanded (Harry's neighbor Sunny, who has the hots for the rugged cop, more or less just steps in to make love and almost be a victim of vigilantism) and the plot has its moments of simplicity in its approach that it's almost readable in its direction, but as a sequel, Magnum Force (1973) strives to move its predecessor further from being a sort-of fascist law enforcer flick and it succeeds to reasonable levels. Clint Eastwood shines well in this action-filled cop mystery, armed with his trusted .44 Magnum to put an end to a humongous killcount for our viewing pleasure!
Bodycount:
4 males shot to death
1 male shot
6 males and 5 females gunned down with a submachine gun
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 female poisoned with a drain cleaner
1 male shot to death
1 male shot
1 male shot to death
1 male shot to death
1 female repeatedly shot, crashes and falls off a building
1 male shot to death
1 male shot with a shotgun
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 male shot
1 male crashes his car through a crane, killed
1 male decimated by an explosive
1 male killed in vehicular collision
1 male had his throat beaten repeatedly
1 male tossed out of his motor bike and into a bay, drowned upon fall
1 male decimated by an explosive
Total: 38
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