I remember this movie existing as a kid but I had never actually watched or revisited it as an adult until now.
Surprisingly the movie holds up better than I expected. It still contains a lot of 80s-isms such as how the movie treats its female characters as inconsequential and throw-away but it actually tackled (rather lightly) police racism which completely caught me off guard. Now don’t get me wrong it’s still messed up that Jack (Nick Nolte) only felt like he had to apologize after he got to know Eddie Murphy’s Reggie Hammond, but I was surprised when he said, “It’s my job to keep you down.”. That line of dialogue is definitely ahead of its time.
Very enjoyable overall. I think now I need to check out the sequel, but keep my expectations low as well so I can enjoy it just as much.
