As a film, Striking Distance seems caught in an identity crisis between whether it wants to be an action film or a psycho-thriller. As an action vehicle it seems routine. The various car chases, boat chases, fight sequences are passably directed, but one has seen them all before, and moreover none of them are particularly well connected to the rest of the film. There seems no reason for a car chase that takes up the first five minutes of the film, and a sequence where Willis conducts an arrest aboard a barge (exactly what illegal acts are being conducted aboard the barge are never stated) seems to be grafted onto the film from somewhere else and has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the film. Even the title has no meaning.

Where the film does work is surprisingly as a character piece. Herrington is effective in being able to put a finger on the inner mood of Willis’s character. And surprisingly Willis comes to the fore and gives the film what strength it has, reigning his characteristic flip wit in and coming out quite convincing as the person with the strongly principled moral line who has been burned by the system. Unfortunately the psycho-killer element of the story is not well used and the killer doesn’t seem obsessive enough to make a worthwhile nemesis for Willis. And the unfortunate thing is also that all this character driven-scenes makes the film, which was sold as an action vehicle, slow-going in long stretches. Sarah Jessica Parker seems wooden and out of her depth – in particular lumbered with a wholly unbelievable character twist partway through.