good cop movie but a little long

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2003)

This movie was good. I loved the gun fight scene in Downtown LA and Neil's last confrontation with Waingro. This must've been my fourth time watching it and I still enjoy watching those two scenes.
However, much of the rest of the movie could've been edited out. I always thought it ran a little long. Also, I thought the dialogue could've been better. Am I alone on this? Everyone seems to praise this movie as one of the best they've seen. Am I the only one who thinks the sub-plots, especially those involving the characters' personal lives could've been shortened or eliminated altogether? And that the dialogue was weak, even during that coffee shop scene?
The pacing was slow and, except for a few scenes, the movie was boring. The movie was basically a few great scenes strung together by a lot of weak ones. Despite the movie's flaws, I enjoyed some of the action sequences and the performances of Al Pacino and Robert Dinero. It's too bad they didn't get a better script.
In short, this is an over-rated film that ran too long and that has a couple of great actors and some good action scenes. 7/10 stars.