Exiled

This 1998 made-for-TV film (often titled Exiled: A Law and Order Movie in reruns) picks up the story of Detective Mike Logan, Chris Noth's character previously written out of the series.  It's purely cop drama, on a film scale; the only DA presence is a cameo by Sam Waterston as a (relatively) young Jack McCoy.

Given how old this film is on my first viewing, it seems more like a Law and Order All-Stars show than anything else.  Detective Logan, "exiled" to Staten Island after punching a politician in Manhattan three years prior, is trying to get transferred back.  He thinks the most likely way to do this is to solve a high-profile case, so he snags a floater from the river and makes the case his own.

Together with new partner Frankie Silvera (ably performed by Dana Eskelson), the case takes him back into Manhattan and directly to his old precinct, the 2-7.  Here they find legendary Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe, with his then-partner Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) in a cameo role.  This makes sense, though, because there has to be space to fit in two brand-new 27th precinct detectives, one of which is pretty clearly established (by parade-of-stars-member Dann Florek as Captain Donald Kragen) to be the mob's inside man.  Detective Logan has to figure out who it is, all while wooing the dead girl's sister and keeping his captain (and S. Epatha Merkerson's Lieutenant Van Buren) off his back.

Some of the action and dubbing effects have not held up well, and the film clearly has a made-for-TV feel with too many actors seeming unpolished in their lines, like it's just another episode-of-the-week.  And the bad guys are totally predictable, really, no suspense there at all.  The presence of Ice-T as a pimp is also incredibly jarring; I kept thinking that they were going to reveal him as undercover on the vice squad since he's about to transfer to SVU.  (I know, I know, L&O frequently reuses actors in new roles.)

Still, together with the later Law and Order: Criminal Intent season with Noth, this does bridge the gap and create the Story of Mike Logan, one of the big arcs of L&O's long and successful story.  It's also apparently the first meeting between Captain Kragen and Lieutenant Van Buren, which honestly seems strange as she took over his old job.  (You'd think they would have met at a fundraiser or something.)  So, as part of the L&O lore, I recommend it.  Just watch it in line with the 1998 show, not on its own merits.

Exiled
1998, 120 minutes, directed by Jean de Segonzac