The ads for Code of Silence look schlocky, and Chuck Norris is still identified with a series of grade-zilch karate epics, but this is a heavy-duty thriller - a slick, energetic movie with good performances and a lot of genuine human interest.

Chuck Norris takes a big leap in his film career with Code of Silence, a solid cops 'n' drug dealers picture filmed last year in Chicago. Norris' big step is that this time he stars in a much more realistic action film, one with a credibility only slightly undone by a few of his martial arts maneuvers at the end.

Code of Silence is a predictability cacophonous cops-and-crooks yarn [by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack] that is actually quite good for the type.

A conventional cop thriller leavened with a tablespoon of style and a quarter-cup of garbagey fun.

Sounds like Dirty Harry, looks like Dirty Harry, plays like Dirty Harry. The big difference is that Norris is not so mean as Eastwood, nor so interesting. Eastwood's Harry is flawed, even philosophical in his grumpy way; Norris' Sarge is just a nice guy who can kill you a hundred different ways. [06 May 1985, p.B6]

Code of Silence, as directed by Andy Davis, has a slick look and adequate pacing, though its action sequences tend to fizzle as they end.