The Art of Dying 2003 Horror Movie Review

This is one of the best of Wings Hauser’s films.  A Wings Hauser cop flick is basically workmanlike.  Everything is done competently, but there are no surprises.  Every cliche will be there: the tough but feeling cop, the superior who hates him because he goes over the line, twisted sociopathic criminals whom the law is too soft on, young kids whom the tough but feeling cop has to save from the sex industry, while giving us a couple of really nice shots of naked girls (esp. T.C. Warner), the final showdown between the cop and the killer who has kidnapped the hero’s daughter / mother / girlfriend ... it’s all here.  It’s like Charles Bronson, but a one star lower ratiing, because it’s without top production values, without the girls who are 10s who would be in a Bronson film, with few (if any) clever lines, and with Hauser who is gruff and watchable, but not exciting like Bronson. 


What helps lift this baby to the top of the Hauser line is Michael J. Pollard who does a nice turn as police psychiatrist, both funny and serious.  Also the young women are pretty if not stunning.


Finally, Kathleen Kinmont does look stunning in her kidnap scene - she wears a biker jacket with only black panties on below, and we get three very nice rear views as she tries to climb away over a hill to escape.


Not great stuff, but fun and watchable.