Parents' Guide to Striking Distance

How far can Bruce Willis' grin and biceps carry a cop thriller full of familiar turns? Striking Distance answers: pretty far, as long as no one asks too much of the plot. This is the kind of '90s thriller where trauma means drinking alone, police work means ignoring orders, and somewhere near the end the villain ties people up so he can explain the evil plan. It's generic in almost every way, but Willis knows exactly how to cruise through it. Tom Hardy's rule breaking feels morally necessary inside the movie, even when he keeps putting other people in danger, and Willis makes that recklessness feel like part of the entertainment instead of a problem the film wants to examine too closely.

Pittsburgh becomes the movie's second brightest star, with the water scenes giving the thriller a swampy mood and a welcome change from the usual precinct and alley routine. Sarah Jessica Parker also brings more to Jo than the script gives her, adding warmth and a little melancholy before the movie turns her merely into someone Tom has to rescue. The serial killer plot works well enough, even when the film seems more interested in Tom's damaged-hero routine than in the murders themselves. It's satisfying and messy in the way only '90s thrillers could be.