From “21 Jump Street” to “The Nice Guys,” the 2010s were filled with films relating to the buddy-cop film genre. Even in the early 2020s, films of this type are still proving to be popular among general audiences, with the recent release of the film “Bad Boys for Life” turning out to be both a critical and commercial success. Naturally, Netflix would soon throw its own hat into the ring, with its new film “Spenser Confidential” acting as the streaming service’s champion for success in the genre. Despite possessing a pair of strong leads, the film ultimately has little else to support it, thus resulting in a hollow, uninteresting action comedy which sits among the rest of Netflix’s mostly subpar selection of original films.

The film stars Mark Wahlberg (“Instant Family”) as Spenser, a former Boston police officer who, after being released from prison, investigates the deaths of his former captain and the latter’s partner. Alongside Wahlberg stars Winston Duke (“Us”) as Hawk, Spenser’s new, reluctant roommate and eventual partner-in- crime. Though Wahlberg naturally charms as the snarky, hardened ex-cop, Duke, whose acting talent has been displayed in past works such as “Black Panther,” feels relatively underused throughout the film. Rather than utilizing the qualities which have made the actor popular in recent years, the film ultimately portrays Hawk as nothing more than a pair of muscles with no other purpose than to support Spenser’s cause, thereby hindering him from showing any real development as a character, or displaying any interesting qualities.

Given that the film is based on a television series, “Spenser for Hire,” which ran for three seasons in addition to a series of films which preceded it, one would think that “Spenser Confidential” would have been able to successfully draw inspiration from one of the many storylines explored by them. Instead, the film ultimately opts to tackle various cliched topics seen throughout crime films in general, such as police corruption and drug cartels. As a result, the film holds a fairly dull atmosphere throughout its entirety, as it simply has nothing new to bring to the table in terms of story or character development. This is not helped by the fact that, despite being branded partially as a comedy, the film displays very little humor, save for a select few moments featuring Spenser’s mentor, Henry (“Alan Arkin”). As a whole, the film has no saving graces or defining factors which help it stand out among similar works, for it opts to play it safe and simply follow a preset buddy-cop mold.

Given the recent awards season in which Netflix was heavily represented, especially through films such as “Marriage Story” and “The Irishman,” it is all the more disheartening to see the service produce a project of such inferior quality in comparison to these films. Though “Spenser Confidential” would never have turned out to be as refined or praise-worthy of these films, it still had the potential to be a fun, action-packed joyride, especially given its talented cast and a selection of stories to take after and improve upon from the preceding film and television installments of the series. Unfortunately, the film proves to be nothing more than average Netflix fare, and as such, it will easily fade into obscurity as the company churns out dozens more originals in the months to come.

Image from Netflix via YouTube