Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg have previously worked together on
Lone Survivor,
Deepwater Horizon,
Patriots Day, and
Mile 22, but they're making the leap from the big screen to the small one for new Netflix movie
Spenser Confidential. Based loosely on the novel
Wonderland by Ace Atkins, and using the names of characters created by Robert B. Parker in his series of novels about fictional private detective Spenser, this latest Wahlberg/Berg team-up is a fun opening chapter for what could be a successful new franchise.
Spenser is an ex-cop who is finally freed from prison after attempting to bust some dirty cops five years earlier. As he tries to piece his life back together, he meets Hawk (Winston Duke), and they team-up to uncover a conspiracy tied to the one that landed Spenser behind bars, all while trying to clear the name of an innocent man. If the premise sounds familiar, it's probably because it's one we've seen countless times in a multitude of films over the years, and while there's nothing here that will really stick with you from that overarching story, it's the performances from Wahlberg and Duke which help make the film something special. They have a lot of chemistry together, and the former is once again at his best while showing off his comedic chops. Duke, meanwhile, is an absolute badass, and Hawk is a character it's a lot of fun to spend time with (if anything, the film needed more of him).
Alan Arkin, Iliza Shlesinger, and Bokeem Woodbine deliver strong supporting turns, but Marc Maron fails to make much of an impact in a forgettable supporting role. While
Spenser Confidential is very much Wahlberg and Duke's film, it's disappointing that more time isn't spent fleshing out this supporting cast, but then again, that is what sequels are for!
Oh, and make no mistake about it, this movie is pretty much begging for a sequel by the time all is said and done. Honestly, you'll want to see one too, because there's definitely potential here for more stories, and while this first effort is a little rough around the edges, there's time for that to be smoothed out moving forward. Perhaps the biggest problem with
Spenser Confidential is the fact it's never entirely sure what it wants to be; while it's billed as an "action-comedy," it jumps very drastically between the two tones. In one moment, Spenser is fighting off a dog in an undeniably hilarious brawl, but in the next, we're seeing a woman's corpse in the trunk of a car and spending time with a widow who just lost her husband. It feels like it's never entirely sure what it wants to be, and if a follow-up
does happen, that's something Berg needs to figure out.
Still, if you're looking for something non-Disney related to watch at home this weekend as
Onward is conjured into theaters, then you could do worse than
Spenser Confidential. It's funny, action-packed, and boats two awesome performances from its leads, and definitely one of Netflix's better originals.
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