The author of this review has learned not to take claims of his country's video distributors seriously. One of such examples was First Degree, 1995 Canadian film directed by Jeffrey Woolnough, advertised as "a work with the thrills and realism in movies similar to Pulp Fiction and Bad Lieutenant". In reality, protagonist of First Degree could hardly feel comfortable in both films. Police Detective Rick Mallory (played by Rob Lowe) is dedicated professional and crime-solving machine whose cold intellect can match even the most cunning evildoers. His abilities are going to be tested again when he starts investigating murder of a tycoon with organised crime connections. Mallory quickly finds suspect in the form of gangland boss, but both gangsters and Mallory's colleagues from police are somewhat suspicious towards his findings. Mallory had much better suspect in the form of tycoon's rich and beautiful widow Hadley Pyne (played by Leslie Hope), woman whose charms managed to seduce the unbeatable detective.
First Degree represents somewhat unusual genre combination of film noir, classic thriller and drama that tries to explore lives of upper echelons of society. Yet, trying is everything scriptwriter Ron Base and director Woolnough can achieve. First Degree could have been quite interesting film, but the script succumbs to cliches and usual movie ailments like unbelievable yet quite predictable plot developments. To make things even worse, the ending leaves some loose ends in the plot. First Degree avoids being complete disaster mostly thanks to mostly good cast. Rob Lowe is quite good in one of his rare starring roles in 1990s, while Leslie Hope is somewhat less effective as femme fatale. For all those who had expected thrills and realism of Pulp Fiction and Bad Lieutenant this film should be first degree disappointment.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on November 12th 2002)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/370985-first-degree?language=en-US
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