Spenser Confidential movie review (2020)

Vexingly, Winston Duke feels woefully wasted here. The rising star who stole scenes as the growling M'Baku in "Black Panther" and impeccably pulled double-duty as hero and villain in "Us" is cast as Spenser's sidekick, Hawk. Genre expectations for buddy-cop movies might have you thinking these two characters would be polar opposites. But both are impulsive dudes with a predilection for condescension and violence. Which means there's little conflict outside of them fighting over the affections of a very old dog, named Pearl. Duke and Wahlberg's chemistry is so non-existent it almost seems like they shot every scene separately then cut it together in post. The only bit where Duke truly shines is when Wahlberg is absent.

Hawk stands in the shambles of a child's room, torn up by some malevolent gang in search of … something. A little boy stands in the door scared. He asks if this towering stranger is a giant. "Yeah, I'm a giant." A good one or a bad one? His voice deep and warm, Hawk assures he is a good giant. Then he gently but mightily helps the boy put his room back together. It's simple, but one of the few moving moments in the film.

Then, there's Wahlberg, who is horrendously miscast as Spenser. Admittedly, it's unnerving to watch this star, who has a history of real-life hate crimes, play a hero cop and white savior. But from the guy who claimed he could have prevented 9/11 if only he'd "been on that plane," it's hardly surprising that Wahlberg was drawn to the role. Here's a power fantasy where a tough guy who violently follows his gut gets to be the hero. But with a script this uninspired, "Spenser Confidential" demands a leading man with outstanding charisma to rescue it. Wahlberg isn't up to the challenge. His cocky smirk and furrowed brow aren't enough when he can't pull off the clumsy fight choreography or land a joke. A choppy edit tries to save one bungled battle scene after another; they are still laughably bad. But hey, at least those might get laughs. The jokes sure don't.  

I wonder if the only director who really knows what to do with Wahlberg's bravado is Michael Bay in "Pain & Gain." There, Wahlberg's wide-eyed aggression is employed as a tool to satirize American masculinity and its toxicity. The inescapable doofiness that goes hand-in-hand with his cockiness is weaponized for cutting comedy. But here, Wahlberg blandly swaggers, stiffly falls into physical comedy and lazily drops one-liners like snot rockets. So, when "Spenser Confidential" dares to tease a sequel in its final moment, I couldn’t help but cry out, "NO!"