CSI: NY (TV Series) Hammer Down (2009) User Reviews

The Hunt Continues

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 3 March 2011]

The second part of the "crossover" trilogy of the human trafficking crime reaches New York when a trucker carrying a young woman kidnapped from Miami crashes his rig, escapes with a stolen car (after shooting the driver) and has the victim "Madeline Briggs" (Amanda MacDonald) with him.

(Note: The first story in this trilogy was seen in Season 8 of CSI:Miami, the episode title being "Bone Voyage.")

To our horror, it isn't long before we discover this sicko had carried many, many women locked up in his truck over the years, transporting these women victims, using them as either slaves or donating body parts while hacking them up. Some of the scenes in here are gruesome, but that's CSI and we regular viewers are used to that.

"Mac Taylor" (Gary Sinise) is aided by CSI Las Vegas star "Ray Langston" (Laurence Fishburne). Langston had just come from Miami where he had been helping CSI boss "Horatio Caine" (David Caruso) on this case. Presumably, this three-part crossover story will finish in Langston's CSI headquarters in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the hunt is on for identified trucker "Casey Steele" and his kidnapped victim. The actor who plays Steele, Michael Massee, has an interesting face: perfect for this role.

CSI: NY - Hammer Down

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 1 July 2015]

Tying in to the excellent CSI: Miami episode "Bone Voyage", this equally cool CSI: NY episode, "Hammer Down" brings Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne) to New York City to join forces with Mac (Gary Sinise), hoping to find the scumbag responsible for a despicable organ-harvesting underground operation that many times results in dumping the female victims' body parts all over the place once the various organs are removed. Like in "Bone Voyage" which has Langston working with Horatio Caine's CSI crew; this go-around Mac's team is on the call, hoping to find the man who could be behind the kidnapping of a girl named Madeline. Both the Miami and New York episodes are tied to the Las Vegas "Lost Girls" episode.

The whole "crossover" of shows is primarily to have the marvelous Fishburne shine with multiple casts, and it also allows him to go to different cities across the country. The frustrating part of the investigative process is disappointment in not necessarily being successful as you hope. Langston helps Mac get the handler responsible in the transport and such of the girls, but he'll have to return to Las Vegas to help the mother of Madeline get her daughter back. While Miami did provide some fun moments with Langston in the sunny environs, besides a nice moment with Sinise near the WWII Memorial, I kind of felt this episode squandered a chance to really allow Fishburne's character to shine in a different location (a location he's quite familiar in). Sharing this moment with Sinise (two great actors together on a television series damned lucky to have them) was quite a coup for CSI. 2009 was a great time for CBS, with the likes of Fishburne, Sinise, and Caruso all thriving as lead investigators on their network.

Michael Massee, who plays the "transporter", not afraid to get his disgusting hands dirty, is a real, certifiable heel. He just smiles while Langston agonizes, not the least bit moved by pictures of the many girls he's carried to destinations and helped dispose of their body parts. He is willing to shoot anyone that stands in his way. While a bit far-fetched, the episode allows Langston to perhaps exorcise the latest demon tormenting him as Madeline is being transported by someone else to Vegas. Harper Hill has a fantastic scene as he and Cahill interrogate a surgeon who had been accepting organs from the black market, truly unleashing a passionate questioning of the guy's scrupulous methods in obtaining them in such a greedy, criminal way.

Better than good but not quite great

[realwd · 6/10 · 18 February 2023]

NY has ita main cast unlike Miami missing Delko for the trilogy crossover. But they still haven't explained Haylen's absence. That's awkward. The only CSI Miami character in this episode is the tech with long hair that I don't even know his name. Like my review Miami, I feel like all three bosses should have been in each of the trilogy crossover episodes. Waste of an opportunity. The progression of the story is better than Miami since we get most of the remaining puzzle pieces so that we can see the image. Mention of the zetas linking everything together is interesting. Dr Langston's contributions are not as interesting as in Miami.