Blood Work (2002, R)

The film also written by him, Clint Eastwood plays retired FBI agent Caleb McCaleb.  Fresh from a heart transplant, he is approached by a woman who wants him to investigate her sister's murder.  He tries to decline, but is convinced to help when he finds out the victim is the source of his new heart.  It's a pretty good detective story with more intrigue than action, though it has some of both (the way I prefer it).  I prefer this one over Dirty Harry, which I think garnered its fame mostly because it's a story about an iconic gruff veteran cop.  Blood Work follows more closely to police procedure and following laws that would dictate the ways in which a cop or detective would be able to conduct an investigation.  The major variances from standard procedure/law can be accounted for by McCaleb calling in favors from other characters who share a history with him (we don't have to deduce that this is going on, it's apparent from the story).  I'm not an expert on criminal law or investigation, but I know enough to catch major errors and this seems to stay pretty well within the realm of plausability, which I like.

The most laudable aspect of this film is that several times there are clues shown on screen (and seen by McCaleb) but not obviously important; later McCaleb will realize its importance and flash back to it.  The audience has enough time before the flash that sometimes we can figure out connections before the detective and feel proud of ourselves.  I like it when a film allows me to get involved like that.  Character/attitude wise, Eastwood's character seems to be settled evenly between his roles in Dirty Harry and Gran Turnino.  That might not help you unless you've seen both (if you watch all 3 of these, I think you'll agree... please comment and let me know whether you think so or not), so I'll try again: he's experienced in getting the bad guy and a little active, but still battle-weary and getting on in years to where he can't do as much of the physical work as he used to.  Jeff Daniels plays his neighbor (they both live on boats on the marina), and like with several other normally-comedic actors (Dumb and Dumber, 101 Dalmatians), I prefer his dramatic work and think he fit this character role perfectly.  He was a chummy, cordial guy who tried to help his neighbor out a bit.  McCaleb has a nicely filled-in professional  history with the various law-enforcement officers in this film and I especially liked that his relationship with sheriff's detective Jaye Winston (played by Tina Lifford) felt genuine but wasn't overly obvious like, "hello, we are good friends!"  Show-don't-tell is usually a good policy. 

The weakest part of the film was Paul Rodriquez's role as rival cop.  The acting was fine, but the character was over the top (making inappropriate jokes at a crime scene, etc)... that there's no way he wouldn't have been reprimanded by his superiors.  He'd know better than that by this point in his career.  Later in the film, after his character had already been established as the crass jerk, the role worked a little better.  The comments seemed more natural and were directed at McCaleb rather than at the deceased at a crime scene.  I liked it and thought it was a fine detective story, but doesn't really stand out among that genre by much (other than the chance to figure it out yourself).  If you like detective stories, almost noir (but not quite), or are a fan of Clint (he's his same old self here), then you'll like this one.  If not, you can give it a pass and be OK (but if you were tied down and forced to watch it, it wouldn't be that bad either).