No more mr. nice guy for for Mark Wahlberg, being a former detective, its now gloves off for him when he gets out of prison.
Detective Spenser (played by Mark Wahlberg) went to prison when he beats his Captain, John Boylan (played by Michael Gaston) shitless at the latter's home. He was about to be released when his fellow inmates tried to send him a parting gift. He was manhandled but was able to survive with an icepick on his back. That was his gift before going out.
Once free, he boarded up with his friend Henry who owns a boxing gym. Rooming in with Spenser was Hawk, a boxer who was training under Henry. Spenser later became his mentor. Spenser was ready to start a new life and move on when Captain John Boylan was killed. Immediately he was the top suspect but was cleared when Henry vouched for him. He was further cleared whey the Police pointed to Terrence Graham (played by Brandon Scales) as the perpetrator. Terrence's car showed signs of ramming Boylan's car and conveniently Terrence was found dead in it, purportedly to have committed suicide.
Spenser knew him as a good cop and he was surprised that the Police found drugs and dirty money inside his home. Being a boy scout that he is, he started investigating into the death of Boylan. All his sleuthing led him a casino development called Wonderland. A lot of players want to invest in wonderland including his partner, Driscoll (played by Bokeem Woodbine). A dirty cop who had a hold on a number of other Police officers and is connected with some street gangs. His ticket to Wonderland was selling drugs on the streets through this gang. Spenser got hold of an incoming shipment and hijacked it, only to find Henry kidnapped by Driscoll, the latter offering a trade. The drugs for Henry. In the end they rescued Henry, caught them all and turned over the criminals led by Driscoll, and the drugs to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the FBI.
This movie is almost a cop movie except that he is ex-cop playing Batman with Hawk as the Boy Wonder Robin. His friend Henry acting like Alfred, they fight crime in the streets headon. Iliza Shlesinger plays Cissy Davis here, the wife or ex wife of Spenser and with her yakking maybe can play the role of Catwoman, she was always catty here.
Mark Wahlberg for us is being stereotyped as a cop. We are comfortable of him working as a cop from films like, The Corruptor (1999), The Departed (2006), Max Payne (2008), and The Other Guys (2010). He even dresses like Detective Terry Hoitz in the last film mentioned. Although here he did not give out comedic lines and he was more bad ass here. Wahlberg plays an ex-cop with uncontrollable rage thus he is more darker here. He fights in every confrontation he gets with the bad guys here that we already knew what will happen in the next scene.
Meanwhile, the great actress in Iliza Shlesinger was relegated to a whiny, complaining ex-wife who rants, curses Spenser at every time she gets a chance. She only stopped her tirades when Henry was kidnapped and then she helps him rescue the old guy. Wait, you seek the help of your ex-wife to meet with the ruthless kidnappers aka street gangs with machetes conniving with dirty cops? I don't think so, but hey, that's their story and this is how they want to spin it.
In the end, Spenser gets to fight the big boss in Driscoll and he pins him down with a gun in his hand. The dirty cop can't run anymore, then for the sake of action, he throws the gun down and challenges Driscoll to a fight. Both are avid boxers, so Spenser wants to know who would win? I thought he wants to bring Driscoll to prison. Oh wait, before he sends Driscoll to prison, he wants to teach him a lesson. That's why he wanted a fist fight. Really? Yes, really.
Because of the twists and and the way the story was told here and the character development, we clearly can see its was not made for theatrical release. With the style of story telling here, we are like watching a pilot episode of a TV series, and the level of violence here, maybe won't pass a GP rating. It would be R-13 at best.
Why did we feel it like a pilot episode? The ending hints of Spenser doing another investigation work when he sees that fireman being arrested and screams he needs help in front of the TV camera. Henry cries to the restaurant owner or staff to change the channel so that Spencer won't see more details, while Cissy cries no to Spenser. Spenser knew that fireman and you can see it in his eyes that he will a sequel or another episode.
If you want to see a darker side of Mark Wahlberg while being the good guy, the Spenser Confidential is for you. If you don't want any surprises, then this one is also for you. This film is currently being shown in Netflix so enjoy it there.
And what's with the spelling of Spenser with an S? I always know its spelled S-P-E-N-C yes with a C-E-R like Marks and Spencer.
