A disgruntled detective and a convict have to work together to hunt down a pair of criminals in Walter Hill's buddy cop film 48 Hrs.
48 Hrs. has a fairly significant role in defining cinema in the 1980s, as it popularised the buddy cop genre, in which two people of conflicting personalities work together to solve a crime or bring down criminals. Although the 1974 film Freebie and the Bean is seen as the first of this kind of genre, 48 Hrs. brought it major attention.
The main reason why this film works as well as it does is the combination of Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in the leading roles. Nolte's rough-hewn cop Jack Cates and Murphy's quick-witted convict Reggie Hammond are very opposite personalities, and it gives the pair great opportunity to demonstrate some effective chemistry through their almost constant arguments.
On an individual level though Murphy steals the show, as he's a very entertaining character. There's a great scene where he's trying to find out some information in a redneck bar which illustrates his talents superbly. Nolte, in comparison, is quite one-note in his gruff performance.
I think it's in part to Murphy's charisma that I actually ended up enjoying this, as the story of this hunt for two cop-killers is threadbare at best. The main arc of the two characters establishing some rapport and respect for each other as the narrative goes along makes up most of the story, which would become a staple of the genre. This is fine don't get me wrong, I would have just liked there to have been a greater focus on the villains and their motivations, as there's so little to hang on to.
A more positive aspect though is the time limit Cates has of 48 hours (you see where it gets its title) to find the cop-killers, as that's the amount of time Reggie has on leave before he has to go back to prison. The ticking clock adds more stakes to the hunt, as otherwise I may have had little investment in what was going on.
Oddly enough for a buddy cop film there really isn't much action at all. The action beats that are there though are functional, and entertaining enough. It's also quite light on the comedy, with Murphy providing most of the laughs, as it opts for a more serious tone, which unfortunately makes it dour in its worst moments.
Whilst I thought 48 Hrs. was a perfectly okay film, I do believe buddy-cop films that came after it were far more successful, including the likes of Lethal Weapon and even Eddie Murphy's own Beverly Hills Cop.
Final Verdict
With the effective chemistry of Nolte and Murphy being enough to overcome a thin narrative, there's enough to recommend seeking this out.
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