Last week, the various trade magazines and film sites reported that Robert De Niro was looking to make a sequel to 1988’s MIDNIGHT RUN. In MR, RD played Jack , former cop that was pushed out for not taking a bribe (framed for taking a bribe) and was reduced to making a living as a bounty hunter. In the film, he was on the trail of The Duke (Charles Grodin), a former accountant for a major crime boss. Grodin and De Niro had surprising chemistry and the film was a hit. The film was fantastic and one of my mother’s all-time favorites.

But in the time since then, De Niro has made many films that are…slightly less fantastic. RIGHTEOUS KILL (a turkey that saw him join forces with fellow fallen icon Al Pacino), GODSEND ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, the list goes on.

So I can understand why he might want to revisit a character from a film that was not just successful, but very good. But there is no reason to. The story has been told. When we last saw Jack, the Duke gave him a large sum of money. Enough for Jack to do what he wanted: Quit the job he hated and open a coffee shop.

Charles Grodin has retired from acting. As I said, Grodin and DeNiro had great chemistry and that was a major part of what made the film so good.
de the film so good will be vitually impossible to recreate.

I would love to see Bob return to form. I would love to see him knock one out of the park. I would love to see him make a film that did not require holding one’s nose to avoid gaging on the stench eminating from said film. I, like many filmgoers, want to see these things to happen, but MIDNIGHT RUN 2 is not the vehicle to do it.

I can’t see any scenario in which MIDNIGHT RUN 2 is either good or a success. Too much time has gone by and the mojo that ma