Spenser Confidential (2020)

REVIEW BY: ROBERT CHANDLER

SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL is a Netflix Original Movie reboot of the popular television series, SPENSER: FOR HIRE, which ran in the mid-80s. That was based on a series of books written by Robert B Parker, an influential crime writer from Boston. Parker also wrote the Jesse Stone novels, which were turned into a winning tv series starring Tom Selleck. 

The tv series, SPENSER: FOR HIRE, featured Robert Urich as Spenser, a former boxer and ex-cop turned private eye, accompanied on his adventures with Hawk, a black street tough turned good guy. Such was the popularity of the show, Hawk went on to have his own spin-off series.

Back to the Netflix, which retains all the elements from the tv show described above. It is enormous fun and barrels along to its shoot-out conclusion. Hoorah! The plot feels a little like a tv ep extended into a two hour movie but, you know what?... having watched a lot of NCIS and Dick Wolf's FBI series recently, where movie-sized plots are boiled down to single hour dramas and all the plot points are hit but at the expense of any of the characters actually pausing for breath, it felt like a relief. The just-under-two-hours running time was good and relaxed; situations were explored; actors able to expand within their roles and make the most of the predicaments they encountered.

The cast works well: Mark Wahlberg's plain, blue collar schtick is perfect for his Serpico-lite, honest ex-cop; Winston Duke terrific as man-mountain Hawk (one of the children characters asks him if he is a giant and he replies "yes"); Alan Arkin - a legend, always excellent, always uplifts - as the owner of the boxing club; and comedian Iliza Schlesinger full of comic spit and fuck-you verve as the blonde ex-girlfriend. 

(And, yes, watching Arkin, I was thinking of him in FREEBIE & THE BEAN, the seminal 1974 Richard Rush movie with James Caan that virtually invented the buddy-cop-comedy.)

Supporting cast is good, too. Post Malone delivers an indelible turn as a prison con; while Bokeem Woodbine brings his customary mix of menace and charm.  

You can see the slightly dated roots of the show in those four lead role descriptions above: good white ex-cop; cool black guy with street smarts; wisecracking Jewish old man club owner; foul-mouthed blonde ex-GF. This datedness will affect some viewers more than others, but if you can look past it, or even embrace it (?), then the film delivers.

Peter Berg directs well (an ex-actor, he directed Wahlberg in several films, including LONE SURVIVOR, which I think is the most enduring of their films).

Spenser is an interesting character, if a throwback. The film sets up a sequel (or series) with our four characters unsurprisingly together at the end being handed another adventure via a news bulletin. 

Robert B Parker loved dogs. This is a good thing. (Jesse Stone has a dog.) Spenser has a dog. The blonde ex-GF is a veterinarian who homes and cares for dogs, many of them ex-police service dogs. 

SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL was based on a novel not by Parker but by writer Ace Atkins, published after Parker died. Parker is one of the few novelists who has books written based on his characters where the novelist's name is part of the sales drive and cover design.

Netflix's number one film in the UK on its release last week. Recommended.