I find myself agreeing with some of the other reviews in that this is a decent enough adaptation of the tenth of John Sandford (John Camp's) novels and as such it attempts to try and interlace a lot of storyline into the video that fans of the books will understand. It is about as good a job of the gritty storyline that you'll be able to find on commercial TV. Sandford writes some excellent, gripping and gruesome stories more suited for cable or the big screen ...which is really where I would enjoy seeing more of his fine work. Harmon did fair but like others I found him wanting. Davenport is a big, tough and mean character that the bad guys are truly afraid of for good reason. An ex hockey player well over 6' with a brooding character that women love. Harmon isn't the right choice although I liked his effort. A much better choice would have been Russell Crowe, Ray Liotta or Nick Nolte. The two lead women did a great job pulling off the roles of Carmen and Clara but for the buxom Marcy a far better choice would have been the beautiful and moody Jennifer Connelly. Granted, my cast would have driven the costs of this up a lot ...probably far more than any made for TV effort. Hey guys, don't knock it. Any Sandford book that makes it to the screen is worth watching. Maybe not as good as they could have been but...
Plot summary
Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief, Lucas Davenport, has to face off against a duo unlike any he's ever encountered; a lethal hit woman and a ferociously cunning killer determined to hunt him down.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Decent enough
When reality meets fiction.
I came across this pretty much by accident. I don't get the channel that made this TV movie, and as a huge fan of Davenport/Sandford, I eventually went to great lengths to get a copy. By then I had seen the reviews and pictures here and they had lowered my expectations. In fact, I even waited a couple of weeks to view it. I think many of the complaints of this film come from the unmistakable fact that a TV movie will never be better than a Sandford novel, and even more so for an audience that enjoys reading.
I also think this is one of the real strengths of this film. Mark Harmon and company didn't try to give us our vision of Davenport, he gave us his. All of the characters in the film represent an image that is similar to the book series, but also unique, and the villains are exceptionally well played. In the end, it works well and stands on its own merits. I really enjoyed this TV version of Sandford and hope there are more. This is good TV.
A Whole Lot of Love
It seems many people hated this movie, but it is fairly obvious from the reviews that none of you have read the books. I thought Mark Harmon did an excellent job of portraying Lucas Davenport, and you can tell by his performance that he is a fan of the books. He really captured the world-weariness of Davenport without going over the top with the character's general bad-assery, and I would love to see him return in further "Prey" movies! As for the people who didn't approve of the fact that all of the characters seemed to be sleeping with one another, this movie is an adaptation of the tenth book in the series. There were nine other books spanning several years of plot that led up to the movie's various romantic entanglements. The producers and writers just did a really efficient job of summing up too much information into a believable plot.