Credit: Netflix

Netflix in April is absolutely packed with new action stuff. We have movies like War Machine and Thrash doing the rounds: big, loud, very now. And then, out of nowhere, you see Striking Distance sitting there in the charts, and that too on number four. Globally. Can you believe it? A bit unexpected, that, isn’t it? A 1993 Bruce Willis film, keeping up with all the new releases… You don’t see that happen often.

And the funny thing is, this isn’t even one of those universally loved classics of Willis. It’s not Die Hard. It didn’t exactly walk away with glowing reviews back in the day, either. Yet here it is, getting watched again as it has just been released. Makes you wonder what people are actually clicking on when they open Netflix now, huh.

So, Striking Distance is a film that’s pretty straightforward on paper, but it has enough going on to keep you in. Willis plays Tom Hardy, a Pittsburgh cop from a proper police family. Early on in the film, he does something that doesn’t exactly make him popular. Wondering what? This guy goes against his own and suggests that the serial killer they are chasing might actually be a cop. This is not the sort of thing that earns you friends at work, right? Naturally, his standing in the department is wrecked.

And if you thought that’s bad, things get worse from here. There is a chase in the movie which goes sideways, and his father, who is also a cop, is killed. The case gets closed as someone gets blamed, and the job is done as far as the system is concerned. But Hardy, being Hardy, doesn’t buy it. He never really does.

Then the film takes a leap, and a few years later, he is no longer a homicide detective. He has been pushed out to river patrol, which is about as far from serious police work as you can get. Poor guy, but that’s the harsh reality. That is exactly what you get when you try to go be a recusant. He is drinking more than he should and is not exactly respected.

Just when he is a wreck, the murders start again. Same pattern, same kind of victims. And that’s when it clicks that he was right the first time. What makes it more interesting is that the victims now have a connection to him, so it’s not just a case anymore. It’s personal, whether he likes it or not. Sadly, at the same time, he is trying to convince people who already think he is unreliable that he is not making this up.

The film came out in 1993, directed by Rowdy Herrington, and it actually did alright at the box office. Nothing massive, but decent enough. Of course, Willis had built himself quite a reputation after Die Hard and was cashing in on it with such roles. The real story sits behind the scenes, though.

Striking Distance originally had a different title. It was going to be called Three Rivers, and after early screenings didn’t land well, the film went through a lot of reworking. Scenes were changed, and you can feel that in places.

Apart from Willis, we have Sarah Jessica Parker as his partner, which might catch you off guard if you only know her from later roles like Carrie Bradshaw, and she is way different here. Then you’ve got Dennis Farina and Tom Sizemore, who fit right into that tough cop world.

And that’s everything you need to know about Striking Distance, and if you haven’t joined the Netflix algorithm of watching it, you should do it, for the sake of old times.