McCanick

Fantasy story about a bad cop.

Unrealistic plot, with extreme lack of knowledge of police procedures and investigations.

Skip it.

Wow, what a rollercoaster, but one you ride after eating, so it makes you feel kinda sick, kinda bad...

McCanick (2013) is a wrong movie. It's all wrong since the beginning. All that keeps us pushing foward towards the end is the question: "what's his problem with Simon Weeks?"; and the answer is sour, bad and bland, mediocre at its best.

What I felt is that they went for a great idea of a plot, but couldn't make it happen right. It goes all shallow and unexplained until the very end, which, when it happens, just leaves you wondering why couldn't you just skip until the end and saved yourself the trouble.

The acting is OK, which keeps you going, but everything falls flat. Nothing to see here.

I was amazed at the negative reviews of this film. I simply bawled.

David Morse acted superbly the plight of a man who is coming to know who he is and what he is capable of given certain circumstances. Only a man of conscience could react the way the lead character did in this film.

This is a psychological drama/thriller that keeps one guessing till the end and reveals the tragedy of the human condition with great poignancy.

Perhaps the secret that the lead was dealing with was concealed in a rather confusing fashion and made it hard to follow along but it is a ploy often used in the movies and doesn't take away from the core theme of the story. I cannot explain the core theme without giving away too much so I will just admonish viewers to take the time to watch this almost masterpiece of psychology if they have lived a little and are honest.

I have always enjoyed the work of David Morse, he's right up there, in my opinion, with Gene Hackman, Ciaran Hinds and a bunch of other character actors, who never disappoint. And Mr. Morse did NOT disappoint in this movie either. What DID disappoint was a disjointed script. It's also unfortunate this was the last film Corey Monteith was in before his untimely death. I had an okay idea of what this was supposed to be about, but that was only after reading RogerEbert.com's review, and IMDB's description. I even Googled and clicked on a couple of other "reviews," all of which rated this one low, and with good reason. It was convoluted and messy. I would like my 1-hr and 36-mins back please.

McCanick follows a darkly twisted Philly detective throughout one day as he tries to find a recently paroled ex con. This film stars David Morse in another Philadelphia based role and the late Cory Monteith, both of which give very seasoned performances that really elevate this film. To start off, the story here, while it is entertaining, is very hard to follow. It is telling two stories simultaneously, one through flashbacks, the other through present day. While this has worked for films of this sort in the past, McCanick misses its mark here regarding a coherent plot. However, as a character piece, this film is absolutely terrific . David Morse as McCanick is very realistic and true to his performance. Morse is especially great in delivering a spot on Philly accent and making us truly believe that this man is a complete psychopath. Another actor in need of much praise here is Cory Monteith. Despite passing away rather recently, this film is bittersweet in a sense. The man proved he was capable of delivering raw and intense emotions, it is a shame we will not be able to see Monteith truly evolve and grow as an actor. Mike Vogel, another Philly native, gives a rather lackluster performance in a bare bones type of role. It isn't necessarily Vogel's fault that his character was underwritten, but he could have at least spiced it up a bit on his own. The director Josh C. Waller has created a great atmosphere for Philadelphia along with delivering a very tasteful character study but he fails to deliver in telling a story that remains coherent and is paced right. In the glimpses of the story that we do get, it is broken information, some of which is said and then never touched upon again. This happens quite often in this film. Despite a bare bones and jumbled story, the film works as a gritty character study of an obsessive cop. If only the story was elaborated on more or cut out all together and went the Bad Lieutenant route, either way there is room for improvement. The only thing that I did not like in this film was the ending. Without giving away any spoilers, all I'll say is it is underwhelming. Overall, I feel Waller has a safe place for future films of this sort. He directs with confidence, even if the script is a bit flat, he makes it work. The real people to watch in this film though are both Morse and Monteith. These two actors really give two amazing performances that are quite impressive. Morse especially carries this movie on his shoulders and runs with it, he's very very good in this film. Anyone who is a crime film buff, you'll really enjoy this one. It's a really raw and gritty thriller with a lot to offer.