Verdict
Summary
Relentless gives Leo Rossi the role of his career, and while he would go on to reprise his detective roll for three direct-to-video sequels, this first film is a minor classic that will make you a fan of his for life. Judd Nelson is infinitely creepy as the dead-eyed killer in the film, and Jay Chattaway’s score to the movie is memorable. If you’ve never seen or heard of Relentless, it’s out there waiting for you to find it. Do it.
Plot: Two Los Angeles police detectives, cynical veteran Malloy and cocky rookie Dietz, hunt for a serial killer, an ex-cop named Taylor, whom randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
Review: William Lustig’s Relentless is a highlight of late 80’s renegade cop movies you need to see. If you miss the days of movies like Shakedown with Sam Elliot and Peter Weller and Renegades with Lou Diamond Phillips and Kiefer Sutherland, and crave the gritty intensity of Lustig’s own Maniac Cop and Vigilante, then Relentless should be your next video rental or purchase.
There’s a serial killer trolling the streets of Los Angeles. Arthur “Buck” Taylor (Judd Nelson shedding every ounce of his Brat Pack image) is the psychologically unfit police cadet reject whose brutally intense detective father was killed on the job. Buck decides to strike back at the institution that essentially both created him and rejected him, and so he begins killing men and women who have the same name as he does, offering the only clue to his identity. Anyone with the name Arthur or Taylor is on his kill list, and after sadistically slaying his victims (by their own hand: that’s his method), he leaves taunting notes for the befuddled police, who haven’t quite caught on to the fact that there’s a serial murderer out there.
Enter new recruit Sam Dietz (Leo Rossi), a rookie detective, but a seasoned beat cop from New York, who on his first day on the job senses that the mounting murders are connected. His bored old-timer partner Malloy (the great Robert Loggia) is bothered by his new partner’s spunk and aptitude simply because it means more work and longer hours, but when he realizes that Dietz is not just a blowhard, but a good cop trying to save lives and actually do what he’s paid to do, he gets excited to do his own job again. That’s when disaster strikes: Buck is on to them and murders Malloy to spur Dietz into a whirlwind of relentless vengeance. The climax at Dietz’ family home with his wife Carol (played by weird-eyed Meg Foster) and son Corey (Brendan Ryan) held at Buck’s knife point is reminiscent of the climax of Michael Mann’s Manhunter.
Prepare to be completely floored by Relentless. As an action film, it’s as slick as Lethal Weapon and as bonesaw sharp as some of the best films of the exploitation era like Vice Squad and Angel. It has that hard-hitting action and suspense of Shoot to Kill and Someone to Watch Over Me, while managing to unsettle you and make you uncomfortable by the time the end credits roll. It’s an astounding accomplishment as an action film, and the sensitive, character-driven script by Phil Alden Robinson (the guy who directed Field of Dreams and Sneakers) is deftly handled by director William Lustig, who was in the midst of his hot streak which included the films Maniac, Vigilante, Maniac Cop, Hit List, and Maniac Cop 2.
Relentless gives Leo Rossi the role of his career, and while he would go on to reprise his detective roll for three direct-to-video sequels, this first film is a minor classic that will make you a fan of his for life. Judd Nelson is infinitely creepy as the dead-eyed killer in the film, and Jay Chattaway’s score to the movie is memorable. If you’ve never seen or heard of Relentless, it’s out there waiting for you to find it. Do it.
