Bloodhounds Reviews

BLOODHOUNDS is a pushy but enervating comic thriller-romance about a grinning serial killer who escapes from prison and is tracked by antagonistic opposites: a dutiful female cop and an opportunistic male crime novelist. Fascinated with the case of imprisoned psychopath Charles Veasey (Kirk Baltz), best-selling crime writer Harrison Coyle (Corbin Bernsen) leeches onto disgruntled Albuquerque policewoman Nikki Cruz (Christine Harnos) for useful tidbits. Three days before execution, Veasey escapes. Because Nikki's father was killed by Veasey during a bank robbery, her superior forbids her involvement in the manhunt, which is preempted by the FBI anyway. Nikki quits the force and sets out on a personal vendetta against Veasey. Wanting revenge on his ex-partner Bob Moore (Markus Flanagan), Veasey finds Moore's sister Liz (Gina Mastrogiacomo), kills her boyfriend, and forces her to drive him to Moore's hacienda in Mexico. Meanwhile, although pursuing separate leads, Nikki and Harrison cross paths as they interrogate Moore's brother Burton (Corey Scott), who nearly murders Harrison during a scuffle in an abandoned factory. Harrison and Nikki learn Veasey's destination and outsmart the Feds, who resent their interference. In Mexico, Veasey corners a shocked Moore and demands $400,000. When Nikki comes snooping, Moore and Veasey ambush her, but Harrison saves the day with his trusty baseball bat. Harrison manages to imprison Moore behind a fireplace screen; Nikki arrests Veasey after wrestling with him in a swimming pool. Liz is found unharmed; Veasey is returned to death row; true love beckons to Harrison and Nikki. This variation on a certain Michael Douglas-Kathleen Turner blockbuster should have been entitled, "Stoning the Romance." At no point does this diversion strike the proper bent note of black comedy as wacky serial killer Veasey decides which of his marks will live or die. The pursuit is wholly ordinary, and the leads lack sparkle. This film's screenwriter promises us a lark, as if chasing this heinous killer were a swell kickoff for a first date, but doesn't deliver the ingenuity or champagne fizz to make this concept fly. (Graphic violence, profanity, adult situations.)