Spenser Confidential is a fun action movie with a great cast

Spenser Confidential is the hottest movie on Netflix right now. Should you be adding Mark Wahlberg’s latest movie to your watch list?

The latest movie to arrive on Netflix is the Mark Wahlberg led Spenser Confidential. The action film has a star-studded cast that features Black Panther and Us‘s Winston Duke, movie veteran Bokeem Woodbine (In the Shadow of the Moon), comedian Iliza Shlesinger, and Oscar winner Alan Arkin.

The film follows Wahlberg’s character, Spenser, as he tries to adapt to life after prison. A former cop, who served five years for attacking his superior officer, he’s looking to start a new life away from Boston. He’s been studying trucks and learning about Arizona, but circumstances pull him back into his old life before he gets the chance.

The story

When Spenser gets out of prison he first secures a place to live with his old mentor Henry. He immediately realizes that he won’t be on his own in this living situation as he has a roommate, Hawk (Winston Duke). The next day things start going poorly as we see two cops were just murdered. With his ties to one of these people, Spenser is at the top of the suspect list and it becomes clear that his former colleagues do not have a lot of love for him.

Still a cop at heart, Spenser can’t help but get involved in trying to figure out what happened and that’s where the movie really begins. Spenser begins digging into the situation that led to the murders and learns that the conspiracy runs very deep and that there are several nefarious entities that have come together to bring trouble and corruption to Boston.

The tone

One of the best elements of Spenser Confidential is that it’s as much a comedy as it is a dramatic film. From Spenser’s love for his dog to Hawk being a large vegan to Cissy (Shlesinger) and Spencer’s complicated romance, Spenser Confidential has plenty of funny situational moments.

This keeps the movie flowing but doesn’t completely rob it of its tension. The humorous moments balance with the dramatic ones well to create a full experience where you won’t feel like the two-hour runtime is too long.

One of the most fun elements of the film was how many times Spenser got beat up. He obviously wasn’t a terrible fighter but in a lot of situations he ended up taking on multiple guys at once and definitely took some hits over the course of the movie. One of the more fun fights was actually between Spenser and a dog.

The cast

I touched lightly on the supporting characters but wanted to give you a little more on them. Winston Duke’s Hawk is a gentle giant who isn’t really gentle. He clearly has a sensitive side, and as I mentioned, he’s a vegan, but he’s also an MMA fighter who has a bit of a temper. Spenser is asked to help him with some of the technical aspects of fighting early in the movie. His character has some of the more funny moments in the movie because of how different he and Spenser are. The classic odd couple situation.

Alan Arkin, meanwhile, plays the wise old man who gives Spenser a place to stay to get back on their feet. He also runs the gym where the two men train. He’s set in his ways and is another contrast to Spenser.

Spenser and Iliza clearly have a toxic romance but there’s something that draws them back to each other over and over. She tells him she hates him with love in her eyes. While there were parts of her character that were incredibly annoying, she has her moments in the movie as well.

Rapper Post Malone also makes his acting debut in the film and, based on his performance, I expect it won’t be his last.

Overall

Spenser Confidential is a fun movie. It’s not rewriting the genre or changing the game in any way but it has a great cast, an interesting story, and some fun action sets. Loosely based on Robert B Parker’s “Spenser” book series, which inspired the 80’s television show, Spenser Confidential does a good job of drawing from the source material but modernizing the story a bit.

I’d put this one a notch above 6 Underground on my watch list if you are looking for an action movie to take in this weekend.

Spenser Confidential is now streaming on Netflix.