Detective Knight: Redemption

The second movie in Willis' farewell action trilogy features even less of its star player this time, and while the tricks and cheats used to film around him sometimes work, they too often don't. Detective Knight: Redemption mainly relies on two characters from Detective Knight: Rogue, former athletes-turned-robbers Casey and Mercer. Somehow Mercer appears just fine after being lethally shot near the end of the last movie, although that probably has something to do with the fact that actor Large is also this movie's co-writer. (He wrote himself back to life.) Happily, we also get a good new character in Shea. And Paul Johansson's fire-and-brimstone Conlan is actually a not-too-shabby villain.

For his few scenes, Willis often listens stoically as others talk to him, and then he goes out to "do his thing" for most of the movie's middle section; no one knows where he is or what he's doing, and we don't see much of him, but he comes back with clues. (The mayor knows something!) Honestly, the story in Detective Knight: Redemption isn't too bad, and the movie has fun with its Christmastime setting, but, once again, director/co-writer Edward Drake (let's not forget he made Cosmic Sin) is simply too limited by either budget or skill (or both) and is certainly hamstrung by the need to work around Willis' real-life aphasia. Every time the movie starts to get good for a second, some flaw in the fabric ruins it. For a good Willis Christmas movie, I think we all know where to look instead.