I was a big fan of Homicide: Life on the Street which remains one of the television shows I've most enjoyed watching. The last two seasons do colour my impression somewhat but I usually like to remember the good times of the first five seasons. Homicide: The Movie is definitely in the mold of the last two seasons in that it's good but the magic is missing, the movie is a pretty good effort all the same though. Pembleton is back to his old self and old favourites Brody and Detective Howard are back, although their input is minimal. I liked spotting actors from the HBO show "Oz" (not coincidentally this movie was co-written by Oz creator Tom Fontana).Homicide: The Movie is worth watching but it's not great, eg. I didn't bother burning a copy of the rental DVD, I'd rather hold out for a DVD boxset which I'll probably have to import from overseas. The story is fairly interesting but still isn't up to the standard of the early days of the show, the presentation is very "TV movie" but we can hardly knock that given its source material. The writers went for Bayliss/Pembleton as the main dynamic which is reassuring, but again the magic is never quite recaptured. Homcide: The Movie ends up being a fitting end to the unfortunately downward trend of the TV series. It was good to see all the characters back but it ends up being yet another installment of Homicide that doesn't live up to the show's brilliant first five seasons. It was a good effort though.

What can I say? An excellent end to an excellent series! It never quite got the exposure it deserved in Asia, but by far, the best cop show with the best writing and the best cast on televison. EVER! The end of a great era. Sorry to see you go...

To be sure, Homicide (the series) deserved a TV-movie after it's unsatisfying series finale, which was admittedly rushed (NBC cancelled the series only a few weeks prior to the end of the 1999 season). Indeed, viewers were left hanging as many storylines were left unanswered, and "Homicide: The Movie" does work as a coda for the series. However, it seems like a series finale elongated to fill 90 minutes.The premise is extremely promising (for those who don't know): Lt. Giardello is the front-running Baltimore mayoral candidate, whose primary issue is the decriminalization of drugs. During a campaign stop, he is shot (but not killed) by an unknown assailant. This event brings every regular character (and I mean everyone) back to investigate the crime and visit Giardello in the hospital. [This brilliant premise is also frustrating to me as a long-time fan. If NBC had given the show one more full season (and let the producers know it would be the last) there could have been some intriguing episodes leading to the campaign.]As a fan it's satisfying in sense to see all the regular characters again, but it's also a tremendous burden on the film. Several scenes do nothing to enhance the story: Shepherd and Ballard repeatedly watch videotape of the shooting in an an attempt to find a lead; Mike Giardello and Kellerman roust everyone who might have a grudge; Med. examiners discuss medical advancements at Gee's bedside. These and a few other scenes only serve to give some members of the bloated cast a reason to make an appearance. What probably would have worked brilliantly as a 40-minute series finale just doesn't cut it as a full-length film.Fortunately, this substantial shortcoming is largely redeemed by the film's conclusion, which is set-up perfectly by the writers. The final twist is a complete and devastating surprise that's entirely believable and satisfying in the spirit of the original series. Even if "Homicide: The Movie" is more than a bit diluted, it works as an appropriately bitter-sweet coda for one of the best shows in the history of television.

I became a fan of the TV series `Homicide: Life on the Street' late in the show's run, but became a fan very quickly. It was a cop show unlike any other: visually different in its use of hand-held cameras, taking the viewer everywhere, with its multiethnic and mutiracial cast and their varying and fascinating personalities, and that it covered all of the good and bad of a police department, including the corruption and personality clashes that bubble up to the surface. Homicide: The Movie, the reunion follow-up to the series, is as good as a made-for-television film can be. After Lt. Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), now a candidate for mayor of Baltimore, is shot, the series' cast members are back to help find the killer. In addition, the cast members who left the force and those who died, also manage to have their place in the film. The intensity and fire that marked the series return, and the script bristles with the same fire that marked the series. All in all, a terrific TV movie.Vote: 9