Street Kings Movie Review

2008-06-11 17:14:09

"Street Kings" Movie Review. 8/10.
By Todd Murphy. ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.


BOTTOM LINE: Keanu Reeves appears to be getting better with age playing a hard-nosed cop to perfection in this gritty police drama where nothing is as it seems, and with a story that will keep you guessing right until the end.

THE GOOD: Sporting an older look and a slightly bigger physique, Keanu Reeves plays Detective Ludlow from the LAPD; a straight-shooting cop who does whatever he needs to do to put the bad guys away. The opening scene show how he cleverly infiltrates a group who have kidnapped two teenage girls; he kills them all mercilessly before making the crime scene look like he was fired at first. Enter Forest Whitaker who plays Captain Wander, who covers up what happened to ensure justice is done. Who cares if they didn't do it by the book? This initial scenario is quite intriguing and introduces us to a world of characters that are all grey and keep us guessing as to their motives. You never really know who the bad guys are. Some are bad who do good. Some are good who do bad. It's a fascinating setup, which gets more complicated when Ludlow is caught in the middle of a shootout which sees a fellow officer (who was going to rat him out to internal affairs) get killed. Wander saves Ludlow from the heat, but Ludlow smells a rat and decides to investigate further. The more he digs, the more of a mess he creates for everyone including himself. The story is quite strong, especially coming from James Ellroy who gave us L.A. Confidential and like that film we're given an unpredictable storyline with strong, uncompromising characters. Los Angeles is also faithfully represented in the visuals, capturing the more gritty side of life there. Another surprise is the casting of Hugh Laurie as the head of internal affairs; he's got the mannerism of his "House" character but also imbues them with a layer of complexity that befits this story. "Street Kings" is a fascinating police thriller.

THE BAD: If there's one thing I had to pinpoint as a flaw, it's Forest Whitaker. He's usually excellent, and there are some great moments in this film for him, but he just doesn't seem to comfortably fit the corrupt character he's playing. In the beginning it seems right but as time passes it gets worse and worse. The final sequence where Keanu faces off against him, he really doesn't look like the nasty piece of work that he's supposed to be, rather a misguided but loveable uncle. It might have been a case of miscasting, and I might be unfair to Whitaker, but his performance didn't ring true for me.


For the original review, click HERE.