The title, "True Blue", must refer to the thick layer of cigarette smoke that hangs over nearly every scene in this film. The actors, led by Tom Berenger, smoke as though they believe it will ward off everything from vampires to the common cold. For a movie made in the era of enlightenment about the dangers of nicotine, the smoking is epic in its intensity.
Along with the burnt-out cigarette butts, True Blue is a burnt-out cop movie, and features just about every cliché of the genre. There are so many familiar elements that it wouldn't come as huge surprise to learn that the film had been compiled from a colour-coded file of stock situations.
Does any of this sound familiar? A beautiful party girl is murdered because of her involvement in a kinky, sex-ring. Prominent citizens and pillars of the community are revealed as part of the aforementioned ring. Much of the investigation takes place in a strip-club with naked pole-dancers in the background. The most unexpected characters turn out to be the real perpetrators.
Tom Berenger plays a hard-boiled detective and burnt-out cop called Rembrandt Macy, Rem for short. With his wrinkled, "Columbo" raincoat and constant haze of smoke, Rem fits into the backstreets of Los Angeles like an unemptied garbage can – never has a character been more in need of nicotine patches or a dry cleaner.
The film starts with Rem investigating two, seemingly unrelated murders. One of the victims is a young woman, and Rem is led to her roommate, Nikki, played by Lori Heuring.
Rem and his partner Beck, a no-nonsense blonde played by Pamela Gibney, track various clues that lead to gangsters in Chinatown, and to an S&M sex club patronised by some well-known civic leaders. Eventually, Rem's investigations lead him back to Nikki with whom he has been having an affair. In a series of revelations, which go from ridiculous to outrageous, her role is revealed.
Rem's other associate is Tiger; his ex-detective partner played by Soon-Tek Ho. Tiger is quirky and Asian and lives on a houseboat. Despite the isolation this would entail, he has his finger on the city's pulse. Of course, a quirky associate is de rigueur in a burnt-out cop movie, and Tiger is definitely at the extreme end of the quirk factor.
True Blue was written and directed by J.S. Cardone. In his attempts to surprise the audience, he created a triple-twist ending that is almost a send-up of twist endings. It involves nearly everyone in the cast and comes off more like the surprise adventure gift that Michael Douglas received in David Fincher's "The Game".
No amount of surface gloss and competent acting can overcome a script that revels in so much cliché. That Cardone the director thought that Cardone the writer's plot would work shows the traps that await the auteur.
Along with the burnt-out cigarette butts, True Blue is a burnt-out cop movie, and features just about every cliché of the genre. There are so many familiar elements that it wouldn't come as huge surprise to learn that the film had been compiled from a colour-coded file of stock situations.
Does any of this sound familiar? A beautiful party girl is murdered because of her involvement in a kinky, sex-ring. Prominent citizens and pillars of the community are revealed as part of the aforementioned ring. Much of the investigation takes place in a strip-club with naked pole-dancers in the background. The most unexpected characters turn out to be the real perpetrators.
Tom Berenger plays a hard-boiled detective and burnt-out cop called Rembrandt Macy, Rem for short. With his wrinkled, "Columbo" raincoat and constant haze of smoke, Rem fits into the backstreets of Los Angeles like an unemptied garbage can – never has a character been more in need of nicotine patches or a dry cleaner.
The film starts with Rem investigating two, seemingly unrelated murders. One of the victims is a young woman, and Rem is led to her roommate, Nikki, played by Lori Heuring.
Rem and his partner Beck, a no-nonsense blonde played by Pamela Gibney, track various clues that lead to gangsters in Chinatown, and to an S&M sex club patronised by some well-known civic leaders. Eventually, Rem's investigations lead him back to Nikki with whom he has been having an affair. In a series of revelations, which go from ridiculous to outrageous, her role is revealed.
Rem's other associate is Tiger; his ex-detective partner played by Soon-Tek Ho. Tiger is quirky and Asian and lives on a houseboat. Despite the isolation this would entail, he has his finger on the city's pulse. Of course, a quirky associate is de rigueur in a burnt-out cop movie, and Tiger is definitely at the extreme end of the quirk factor.
True Blue was written and directed by J.S. Cardone. In his attempts to surprise the audience, he created a triple-twist ending that is almost a send-up of twist endings. It involves nearly everyone in the cast and comes off more like the surprise adventure gift that Michael Douglas received in David Fincher's "The Game".
No amount of surface gloss and competent acting can overcome a script that revels in so much cliché. That Cardone the director thought that Cardone the writer's plot would work shows the traps that await the auteur.