Short Time

Dabney Coleman has a problem. He's a cop just eight days short of retirement, but his doctors also give him only two weeks to live. With admirable pragmatism, he resolves to die in the line of duty, thereby bequeathing a fortune in insurance money to pay his ten-year-old son's Harvard fees. Naturally, dying turns out to be a pain in the neck, and he becomes an inadvertent supercop. Directed by former second unit man Gregg Champion, Short Time boasts some well-staged action sequences; in particular a hilarious car chase with Coleman in kamikaze pursuit of Uzi-toting hoods, yelling his war cry, 'This one's for you, little guy'. Matters get bogged down when the film-makers feel the need to redress the hero's death wish with schmaltzy life-affirming sentiments. Still, when did you last see a movie where the hero dived towards an exploding grenade?