I'm a fan of director William Friedkin's work, but his TV effort 'C.A.T. Squad: Stalking Danger' is such an insult to the senses. If he was trying to the copy the success of Michael Mann's impressionable stint on TV (Miami Vice), by trying to set-up this feature as a pilot for a series (so from what I read) it comes crashing down. We open with odd stock footage, and then watch a hired assassin knock off some important people involved in a government project, and the C.A.T Squad are formed to take out this threat. Its old-hat story is a crafty patchwork of secretive details and gimmicks, but lacks involvement and never convinces. Dull fragmented background stories and idle chit-chat can't help out these tired and two-dimensional characters. Some things feel forced, it can lull quite often and few sequences have an awkward mushiness to them. Freidkin's direction is mechanically staged with his flair for action being too concise, but gladly he grinds out the blunt violence with sheer vigour. The camera follows well, but Ennio Morricone's music score is generically uninteresting. Joseph Cortese, Stephen W. James, Patricia Charbonneau and Edwin Velez simply go through the motions. He followed this one up with 'C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf (1988)', but later that year he would hit form again with the terrific thriller 'Rampage (1988)'.
Review of C.A.T. Squad
