Actor Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg have teamed up for the fifth time for a film that was released straight to Netflix a couple of weeks ago. Spenser Confidential is the story of a cop who is back home in Boston after recently being released from prison for assaulting a superior officer. When a two cops turn up dead, one of whom is the one Spenser assaulted, he suspects foul play.
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Spenser teams up with his old MMA coach Henry, (Alan Arkin) an up and coming fighter named Hawk, (Winston Duke) and his ex-girlfriend (Iliza Shlesinger) to investigate the murders and uncover a criminal organization that stretches all throughout Boston. This action movie will no doubt get a good number of views as more and more people are staying inside, it is currently the number four movie on Netflix. I watched it and here are ten things that made no sense.
The Slashed Tires
When Spenser, Henry, and Hawk are out one day surveilling a local thug, and Spenser fills them in on their perp's past. Somewhere in the story, it is mentioned that the man at one point had killed a cat. Hawk, a noted animal lover, is upset to no end. Hawk gets up and walks over to the man's yellow Corvette and sticks his pocket knife into all four tires, visibly letting air out as we see the tires deflate.
In the next scene, the man gets in and drives off. It would seem that all four of his tires have perfect air pressure. I am no Mona Lisa Vito, but I am pretty sure that is not what would happen.
Sweet Caroline
While snooping around for some information about the suspicious death of a cop, Spenser finds himself in a cop bar in South Boston. One thing stands out above everything else in this scene. There is a Red Sox game playing on a TV in the background and it right before the bottom of the eighth inning. How can this be deduced">represent old Boston.
He is a tough, blue-collar guy. The kind of guy who was a Sox fan long before Sweet Caroline was woven into Red Sox lore. This scene of the ballgame does not represent Spenser, the bar he is in, or the part of town. Why not show something else that more aptly represents Boston sports?
Why Did Hawk End Up In The Hospital?
The final showdown of the movie is pretty simple. It is the good guys against the bad guys simply punching it out. While the good guys were outnumbered, they did have a significant advantage in size and strength. That size and strength come courtesy of Hawk, played by Winston Duke. Duke is 6'5'' and built like a tank. Both of which would give a person the upper hand in a brawl.
And that's exactly what happened, Hawk smashed every person in sight. At one point, henchmen turned and ran at the sight of him coming at them. Following the fight, Hawk is in a hospital bed next to Spenser. From the looks of it, Hawk was considerably injured in the fight, which is the exact opposite of the scene prior. Just one of many continuity issues in this movie.
Lobstah
The movie is divided into several groups of scenes based on the setting. Before each scene, a keyword that encomes what is about to take place flashes on the screen in big block letters. The majority of these make sense, they provide some direction on what you are about to watch. The final one, however, makes little sense.
When the crimes are solved and everybody is safe, Cissy, Spenser's girlfriend said she wants him to take her for a lobster dinner. Then, out of nowhere "LOBSTAH" flashes on the screen as if a new chapter of the movie is starting, it shows them all sitting around eating and a few moments later the movie ends. They didn't exactly nail the landing with this one.
Why Did Spenser Feel Guilty?
Spenser goes to prison for assaulting another police officer who he believed was a crook. At the end of the movie, it turns out that Spenser was right all along so he was able to feel some vindication, but that doesn't give him back the time he lost in prison.
In his testimony, Spenser makes it clear that he feels no remorse for what he did because he knew the officer was dirty. We later find out that Spenser chose to do his time in a harder place to punish himself. Why did Spenser feel guilty and the need to punish himself? Is he a masochist? The story works if he is remorseful, and it also works if he is not, but the writers should have chosen one and stuck with it.
Was Every Cop In Boston Dirty?
There are a lot of dirty cops in this movie. One of the main detectives for the Boston Police Department as well as Spencer's old partner are deeply embroiled in organized crime. As the movie goes on it seems like there are fewer and fewer people Spenser can trust, particularly in law enforcement.
With that being said, was every cop in Boston dirty. When Spenser goes into the cop bar it was pretty clear that they all knew what he was looking in to and so they beat him up. There are a little over 2000 cops in the Boston Police Department. It is hard to believe he could not turn to a single one of them for some help with his personal investigation.
Why Did He Want To Be Trucker?
Working as a police officer to a trucker is a pretty big career jump. Since he went to prison for assaulting a cop, it is unlikely he will get another job as a police officer, but a trucker seems like a stretch. Not only was Spenser a police officer but it is established that he wanted to be a detective.
Going from a fast-paced work environment where you have to use your mind and body to solve crimes and transitioning to sitting down all day driving across the country definitely doesn't make a ton of sense.
How Was Cissy Successful?
Cissy, Spenser's girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend, it is never really established, never fails to mention how successful she is in her business. She makes her living boarding dogs and grooming them. In the couple of scenes that show her home, it is mayhem.
There are dogs running all over the place, not a kennel insight. She didn't spend any time grooming the dogs as she was running around with Spenser the whole movie. If she has any good yelp reviews before, they will be lost amongst the dozens of bad ones to come.
Why Do Spenser And Hawk Share A Room?
When Henry picks up Spenser from prison he takes him back to his place in Southie. Henry rambles on about how it wasn't worth much when he bought it years ago but now it is worth $1.5 million.
To Spenser's dismay, he is forced to share a room with Hawk. It is hard to concede that in a building that Henry himself owns, he could not find another bedroom to spare so that two grown men do not have to share.
How Did Hawk Not Know How To Throw A Punch?
One of the first stops Spenser made when he was back in Boston was his old gym. At the gym, Henry introduces Spenser to Hawk, a young fighter with limitless potential but does not have a knack for throwing a punch. After a rocky start, Spenser takes Hawk under his wing and begins to train him.
By the end of the movie, the training comes in clutch and Hawk is now a fighting machine. It is hard to believe that there was not anybody else at the gym, an MMA gym at that, who could teach Hawk to throw a punch.
