Parents' Guide to Dangerous

This suspense in this action film is intended to fill viewers with dread -- and it works: It's dreadful. Many questions arise while watching, such as "Who thought this was a good idea?" And, to the screenwriter, "Who hurt you?" D is an ex-military mercenary whose antisocial personality disorder leads him to find pleasure in killing. But he's got it under control with the help of his psychiatrist, who apparently only has the one patient, since he's at his desk all day and night to answer D's calls. Eastwood plays D as a sort of machine incapable of understanding human interactions; he barely changes facial expressions or intonation and lacks the ability to communicate clearly. But he's also apparently as sharp as a tack?

Dangerous is a perfect storm of bad writing, bad acting, and bad directing. And it's a total celebration of violence. The storyline is meant to encourage viewers to root for a "reformed" psychopath to kill villains instead of disabling them; the implication is that it's far more efficient and practical to totally eliminate threats. There's a world in which this same script could be an absurdist comedy, a satire of shoot-'em-up action films, but the tone is all off, and director David Hackl doesn't have the necessary skills to make that happen. Instead, this is a film for the bloodthirsty, a thrill for anyone who gets satisfaction from watching someone bleed out in volume. It's reckless entertainment, and parents should see the film's title as a warning label.