Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Coming from a police family, Tom Hardy ends up fighting his uncle after the murder of his father. Tom believes the killer is another cop, and goes on the record with his allegations. Demoted to water-way duty Tom, along with new partner Jo Christman, navigate the three rivers looking for clues and discovering bodies. This time the victims are women Tom knows, he must find the killer to prove his innocence.
Striking Distance is a largely forgettable early-90s thriller that squanders its Pittsburgh riverfront setting and a decent premise. The plot is convoluted without being clever, mixing police corruption, serial killing, and personal vendetta in ways that feel contrived rather than tightly constructed. Bruce Willis coasts on charisma but the script gives him little to work with, and the supporting cast is unremarkable. The cinematography gets modest credit for making decent use of Pittsburgh's distinctive three-rivers geography, lending the film some visual identity it wouldn't otherwise have. Novelty is low — the disgraced cop hunting a serial killer while himself under suspicion is well-worn genre territory, and the film executes it without distinction. The ending tries to deliver a twist but it lands with little impact given how thin the character work has been throughout.