BEFORE: Saw this one coming, did ya?
THE PLOT: "Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.
AFTER: What's interesting about Popeye Doyle is that he's not a perfect cop, like say a John McClain. Even in the first film, allusions are made to him causing the death of another officer - and then, well let's just say the first film didn't have a happy ending. But Doyle means well!
This time he travels to France to track down the head drug smuggler (this time, it's personal...) but he decides to travel to Marseilles without knowing even a little bit of French. Couldn't he have bought a French phrasebook at the airport or something?
I thought that last night's film had some comic elements - come on, is "Did you pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?" really meant to be a valid interrogation question? Maybe not funny enough for the fillm to be regarded as a comedy - but there were some perhaps unintentional laughs. Not so much in the sequel, as Doyle gets kidnapped by the drug smugglers, and they shoot him up with heroin. Are they trying to kill him, or turn him into a junkie? Or is this some form of French poetic justice or ironic humor?
This wraps up my police chain, one of the longest movie chains I've watched, but leads nicely into my next topic, drugs and addiction, as Doyle spends a few weeks in the police station basement going through cold-turkey withdrawal. Apparently part of the cure is drinking French cognac - but isn't alcohol a type of drug? Is it hypocritical for a narcotics cop to unwind with a few drinks? Perhaps, but I'm sure it happens...
Doyle gets a second shot at redemption - but can he kick the smack in time to take it?
Starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey and a bunch of French people...
RATING: 4 out of 10 chocolate bars
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