The Dead Pool

R

1988

1h 31m

Action

Mystery & Thriller

List

53%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the fifth installment of the Dirty Harry series, gritty cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is fresh off the conviction of a major mob boss. When horror film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) develops a "dead pool" betting on celebrity deaths, he is shocked when a serial killer begins targeting those named, including TV reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) and Callahan himself. Action and violence abound as Callahan tracks the killer in an attempt to stop the murders.

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Critics Consensus

While it offers its fair share of violent thrills and tough wit, The Dead Pool ends the Dirty Harry series on an uninspired note.

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Aender S

The worst of the Dirty Harry movies.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

Full Review

Alec B

What a silly note for this series to end on (there are remote control car bombs, metacommentary, and a Chekhov's harpoon gun) but given how dour the previous entries often were, perhaps they just wanted to have some fun? In any case its a bit of a mess that doesn't really earn a lot of what it tries to do in the finale.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/24

Full Review

Eye C

My favorite from the Dirty Harry franchise, good story.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/24

Full Review

Matthew D

Patricia Clarkson can do no wrong. Clint Eastwood's stunt double and movie director Buddy Van Horn's Dirty Harry sequel is tough, funny, and mean. Van Horn's action thriller The Dead Pool (1988) is a blast. Van Horn's direction lets the shadowy scenes look incredible, the shootouts feel exciting, and the dialogue riveting. It's almost a slasher with Dirty Harry as the detective trying to figure out what is happening. I found his playful sendup of fame seekers and celebrity deaths to be a riot. I did not expect the final Dirty Harry film to be so amusing. The cast is insane with a young Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, and even Jim Carrey here. Writers Steve Sharon, Sandy Shaw, and Duke Pearson came up with a fun story concept about predicting celebrity deaths in a sick game called The Dead Pool. Spoofing rockstar music videos and celebrity deaths in threes is a lot of fun. The Dead Pool critiques the public's sick fascination with celebrity deaths. Editor Ron Spang does really clever cuts for a fast pace, that also lets the conversations and interrogations work at their own pace. Cinematographer Jack N. Green's uses creative camera panning and tilts with all sorts of playful angles. I love the romantic way he shoots Patricia Clarkson. Clint Eastwood is tough, mean, and funny as the cool hard boiled Inspector Harry Callahan. He just shoots first, asks questions never, regardless if civilians are present. It's a riot to watch Eastwood blow away crooks with reckless abandon and extreme prejudice. Eastwood grimaces at the idea of Dirty Harry dealing with fame and it's so funny. Patricia Clarkson is drop dead gorgeous as the young blonde reporter lady Samantha Walker. She's clearly just exploiting the deaths of celebrities for a quick news story, but Clarkson is so pretty and charming that she's delightful to watch. She seems to have no morals or ethics, but she is so funny and naturally charismatic. Dirty Harry is right when he says, "blood sells." Liam Neeson is hilarious as the super Irish horror movie director Peter Swan. Hearing his thick accent and seeing Neeson so young is a trip. He definitely has few morals as a director as his character bets on celebrity death probabilities. Neeson is totally unhinged here in an entertaining turn. Jim Carrey is hilarious as rockstar and heroin user Johnny Squares with his Guns ‘n Roses music video lip syncing. You can see the real hard rock band Guns N' Roses cameo at his funeral! Diego Chairs is fun as the giant prisoner Butcher. Evan C. Kim is awesome as the likable, cool, funny, and skilled martial artist Inspector Al Quan. He makes for the best and most interesting cop partner to Eastwood's Dirty Harry. He's useful and very fun. Composer Lalo Schifrin's film score rules with huge synth lines in the midst of oddball jazz and rock songs. There's so many different genres within The Dead Pool. Makeup artist Monty Westmore makes Patricia Clarkson into the femme fatale she was destined to be as an actress. In all, The Dead Pool is a fantastic and fun finale to the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, and Liam Neeson ensure The Dead Pool is a scream!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/07/23

Full Review

Giorgio S

This movie is 1h 29 hours long and it's so boring that I would rather watch Morbius for the third time instead of this. This movid has great actors like Jim Carrey and Liam Neeson,and they are so wasted that if they were or not in the movie it would have been the same thing

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

06/24/23

Full Review

Red T

You know I was expecting something a lot worse based on the reputation this has, but what I got is something that isn't terrible but just really nothing about it is remarkable. Everything is just fundamentally ok. This is a bit of a improvement over Sudden Impact in terms of consistency, but still about the same as a whole. The music is a passable mess of generic dated 80's cinema tracks, Guns N' Roses, and 80's Pop which works about as well as you would think at worst and being boring, generic, and forgettable at best. The camerawork is so subpar and uninspired. Half of the action scenes are at night and lit so poorly you can't see them that well. Harry has no new character development and is just doing what he's done better in the other movies. The plot is kind of farfetched as well. This is clearly a weak script but the director also isn't that good either. This is definitely more focused, the female reporter is better than Jennifer in the last one, and you get to see Liam Nesson & Jim Carrey in early career roles which is cool, but that's about it. It also has some commentary about fame, but never does anything really with it. This does nothing that the other entries especially the first two did better. Unless your curious to see a couple of stars in early roles or a big die hard cop movie fan than skip this. It's a 3 on its own but a 2.5 as a sequel. Kind of a lackluster forgettable note to go out on.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/15/23

Full Review

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Buddy Van Horn

Director

Clint Eastwood

Insp. "Dirty" Harry Callahan

Patricia Clarkson

Samantha Walker

Evan C. Kim

Insp. Al Quan

Liam Neeson

Peter Swan

David Hunt

Harlan Rook

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Henry Sheehan

Chicago Reader

It is perfectly adequate, in fact. It is just that adequate should not be good enough for Clint Eastwood.

Rated: 2/4

May 11, 2022

Full Review

Odie Henderson

House Next Door

It probably wasn't wise for the filmmakers to end Dirty Harry's reign with Eastwood uttering a post-killing line more suited for Stallone or Schwarzenegger, but from an entertainment standpoint, The Dead Pool doesn't leave one **** outta luck.

Jul 12, 2013

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The best thing about The Dead Pool is the best thing about almost all of Clint Eastwood's movies: The film is smart, quick, and made with real wit. It's never just a crude action movie, bludgeoning us with violence.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...easily the worst film in the franchise, with a perfunctory climax and only a couple of passable lines...

Rated: 2/5

Dec 29, 2021

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It's difficult to determine whether The Dead Pool is a desperate attempt to extend the franchise or a smart parody of cop films that have come before it; either way, there's enough to enjoy in this increasingly silly film.

Rated: 2.5/4

Dec 16, 2021

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

It feels as if the writers have completely run out of ideas for utilizing one of the most popular vigilantes in cinema history.

Rated: 4/10

Aug 31, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

In the fifth installment of the Dirty Harry series, gritty cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is fresh off the conviction of a major mob boss. When horror film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) develops a "dead pool" betting on celebrity deaths, he is shocked when a serial killer begins targeting those named, including TV reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) and Callahan himself. Action and violence abound as Callahan tracks the killer in an attempt to stop the murders.

Director: Buddy Van Horn
Screenwriter: Steve Sharon, Durk Pearson, Sandy Shaw Lai-King, Steve Sharon
Production Co: Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $37.8M
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Surround

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