Sharky’s Machine

Directed by Burt Reynolds, Sharky’s Machine follows grizzled cop Tom Sharky (Reynolds) as he’s transferred to the vice squad and, along with his fellow cops, subsequently begins investigating an illicit, high-class prostitution ring. Filmmaker Reynolds, working from Gerald Di Pego’s screenplay, does an effective job of initially luring the viewer into the deliberately-paced proceedings, as Sharky’s Machine kicks off with an entertaining (and exciting) opening stretch detailing Tom’s efforts at taking down a drug dealer – with the sequence, which culminates in a shootout aboard a city bus, seemingly setting the tone for a gritty, engrossing cop thriller. It’s disappointing to note, then, that the movie progresses into a padded-out and mostly tedious midsection that slowly-but-surely drains one’s interest and attention, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the less-than-engrossing atmosphere is exacerbated by Reynolds’ ongoing emphasis on attributes of a decidedly tiresome nature – including sluggish police-procedural elements and virtually everything involving Tom’s growing fixation on one of the aforementioned prostitutes (Rachel Ward’s Dominoe). And although the picture ultimately does pick up for an undeniably compelling climax, Sharky’s Machine, saddled with an absurd 122 minute runtime, has long-since cemented its place as a disappointing misfire that squanders its raft of agreeable components (eg an appreciatively over-the-top and often spellbinding turn by Henry Silva as an insane, coked-up assassin).

** out of ****