The good news is that the made-for-cable BLOODHOUNDS 2, the further adventures of crime-solving crime novelist Harrison Coyle, is marginally better than its listless predecessor. The bad news is that it's not good enough--unless you're a fan of neutered urban action a la such TV cop shows
as "Barnaby Jones" and "Mannix."
Harrison Coyle (Corbin Bernsen) has an avid fan in the deranged Matthew Standish (Ian Tracey), who's about to become a vigilante killer because of the torture-slaying of his fiancee. Outwardly a mild-mannered print shop owner, Standish wants to chronicle his slaughter of rapist/murderers who've
slipped through cracks in the legal system--and chooses Coyle as his literary collaborator. Unable to capture Standish quickly, the police pressure Coyle to string him along.
Reluctant to co-author a vigilante manifesto, Coyle enlists the aid of private-eye acquaintance Nikki Cruz (Nia Peeples), who agrees to bodyguard Coyle and psychiatrist/ex-wife Sharon (Amy Yasbeck). Sharon persuades Coyle to bait Standish on TV news. Having launched his bloody masterwork with two
killings, Standish is angered by the unflattering TV coverage. He breaks into Sharon's apartment and terrorizes her in order to convince Coyle of his seriousness. After Nikki deduces Standish's pattern of victim-selection from prison release records, she and Coyle coerce suspected rapist Selaway
(Reese McBeth) into serving as bait for the serial avenger. But Standish avoids the trap.
Hoping to stop him from killing again, Coyle meets with Standish. Coyle pays lip service to Standish's partnership while cooperating with a police operation in which Officer Levesh (Thomas Cavanagh) impersonates a paroled rapist. Miffed when he discovers Coyle's betrayal, Standish wounds Levesh
and escapes the dragnet. Coyle and Nikki confront Standish at his apartment building. Although shot by Nikki, Standish takes Coyle hostage and drags him to the rooftop, where Standish kills himself to become a martyr to his vigilante cause. Coyle decides to capture Standish's twisted odyssey on
paper after all.
BLOODHOUNDS 2 disintegrates rapidly in the cheap thrills department. Since we know the madman's identity, the mystery is diluted; that leaves run-of-the-mill gumshoeing to carry the day. Lazily directed and pokily edited, the film is designed by Hollywood craftsmen as a scavenger hunt through
classic crime thrillers. Being derivative isn't a crime, but this movie's real felony is the lack of chemistry between Bernsen and his much younger co-stars. Bernsen is no Cary Grant, which is what this film requires (or at least a reasonable facsimile). (Graphic violence, profanity, substance
abuse, sexual situations.)
