Review – Street Kings
- Ethan Cole
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Detective Tom Ludlow “a guided missile” is played like a punk into the shit storm manufactured by his superior. Its classic Ellroy: the boss is dirty; the shit hits the fan; the subordinate has to cowboy up and bite the bullet.
If you’ve seen the international trailer, you pretty much know the plot of this movie – essentially you buy the ticket for the ride. It becomes about the journey of the characters and their interactions in the world as the drama plays out that makes the events interesting, as such; many comparisons can be drawn to The Shield given it’s exploration of the murky waters in the Cop/Crime drama – what’s here in Street Kings is similar but more contained to a feature film; as such it comes across as fairly generic for those who are familiar with the world-of-grey cop genre.
What saves the film from being a bland representation of a wholly predictable tale are the way the characters interact with each other – in particular Ludlow; the troubled man we follow; who we’re always with. It’s Ludlow’s story; being blind; a pawn – played in a way so obvious to the viewer – yet in his self-loathing drunken stupor is oblivious; the job keeping him active.
Ludlow is perhaps Reeves’ best performance as yet – a solid one; with a refreshing aggression. Almost a constant DUI is the least of his concerns; downing airline style vodka bottles – there is a conflict welling internally; the need to do the job – but under less than desirable circumstances. Also as expected there’s something that happened to his wife – thankfully it’s not a huge ‘look here: its character exposition’ style piece of information; rather more background that informs the character. The strategy and inner-machinations; the processing and executions of his actions – calculated are all presented well; alluding to his intentions clearly – the audience strapped in; the vicarious ride into the world of Det. Tom Ludlow; with understanding.
Despite being well performed the characters in his unit come off as almost stereotypical generic types; effectively caricatures – even Detective Washington (Ludlow’s ex-partner) lacking a greater depth to their actions – they get the job done but some additional conflict and confusion would have been appreciated. Conversely; given Ludlow’s mental state there’s no reason they would really have to hide their true personas and/or intent.
Forrest Whitaker portrayal of Captain Jack Wander is ironically the opposite of his Kavanaugh role on The Shield – some contrast is warranted as they share a similar belief: that they are in the right; what they’re doing is right – and in many ways, they are – except Kavanaugh is a much more conflicted, disturbed and deeper character (but given the time constraints this is expected) – where as Jack has more control; in the truest sense of the word. Similarly both characters are right – and further; so is Ludlow – though his response to the question posed seems a little ill conceived given the world he lives in. The real conflict comes off between Jack and Ludlow when they finally face off – this is area of interest where the difference in philosophies elicit drama – despite the reveal and confrontation coming off exactly as expected.
Hugh Laurie’s first appearance is a comical one – at a hospital no less; in some respects it’s a testament to him as an actor given his transformation from his pesky questioning into a captain just with the one prop of throwing on a jacket. The role is a small yet important one; the other side – so to speak. However – the character itself and the distrust and manipulative aspects seemed somewhat glossed over in favor of a more step-by-step approach to the plot – which mostly follows Ludlow’s tracing of the tracks to Washington’s killers. In some ways it’s odd to see an IAD styled character that isn’t really hated on, given no one likes a snitch, as such a majority of his dislike comes from his meddling (albeit more like subtle tugs of the proverbial strings). In his introductory scene Cpt. Biggs offers Ludlow some gum – almost like a throwback to Kavanaugh – but not much is made of it (chances are it could be him just offering him gum).
Disco asked “you don’t know me, who are you to judge me” – or words to that effect; funnily that’s what I was doing – since I’m not familiar with his past work. Here though, it’s another solid performance – a seemingly by the books and fairly green cop who wants something more; perhaps a chance at some gun slinging.
Common comes off great as a deranged drug dealer type – with the right air of menace and instability yet in control of the situation – it’s a small but effective role; and makes the shoot out all the more exciting.
It should come as no surprise that there isn’t as much action as the trailer tries to sell; what’s present is satisfying – but some scenes could have been longer to ride the adrenaline high just a bit more, particularly in light of the energy of some of the scenes. The fist fights are shot handheld – but not the point of being a bullshit monkey cam sequence; effectively conveying the action and the being able to tell what’s going on. In an instance; I couldn’t help but kick the image of – Neo VS Ghostdog. Needless to say it’s not that kind of movie; the fighting here is thrown punches and grapples – to the point of being sloppy and unpredictable – they take their hits well; pain and injury established and dealt with – vicarious satisfaction.
The structure and logic behind the shoot-outs; both the lead in/out is well executed – the explanation and motives for entry; exigent circumstances – and the trailer revealed one man enters so there’s only one version – an excellent device that conveys Ludlow’s process and planning – hindered only by his state of mind. All in all; he’s good police.
A particularly nice scene; a tie-in to the concept of gun slinging; like something out of a classic western – the hero bound, crawling along the ground like a snake, being shot at and mocked by the enemies – and much like a western he’s got the better aim.
The production design echo’s the bleak world inhabited by the characters; with a naturalistic lighting scheme – the odd character falling into pools of darkness from time to time – a stark difference from the hard-light look of the trailers; some great color-timing herein. One shoot-out scene in particular features some excellent use of lighting; from both a logical and dramatic standpoint.
The pacing of the film rarely falters propelling forth at a consistent momentum – right from the start; as we enter from the short title card to Ludlow waking up; quickly establishing his character and following him into his world. Additionally the soundtrack consisting mainly of aggressive beats and a sweeping score is appropriate to the picture; elevating the intensity and sense of urgency – but in only one instance is it too overblown exceeding the limits of the on screen activities.
The dialog is great, sounding authentic – with some excellent one liners and gags; none of which I’ll spoil. The trailer’s don’t do it justice; as it’s the kind of dialog that doesn’t necessarily cut well for a trailer – a more of a mix and match bits and pieces that doesn’t effectively communicate the true emotion and psychology of the scenes it was taken from.
Something just feels like its missing – I’m not sure exactly what it is… in some respects it’s like they’re playing it safe in some areas – perhaps there’s an extended cut that awaits it’s DVD/Bluray release... On some levels the film just feels like a highlight – skimming the surface of a much darker world; where we see just a few players. It works from a written script standpoint; almost as if it’s a short story; the two powers playing the same pawn -
It’s almost too tidy - and was it not for the story focusing solely on Ludlow – everything would seem just way too convenient. Effectively this stems from a majority of the information being fed to Ludlow, and Disco doing a majority of the legwork or the sarge dropping him a clue or two – all fits; for detective guided-missile.
Those familiar with the gritty cop genre will find they need something more, where as the mainstream and the unfamiliar will find this dark and gritty enough for their palate – though nothing so shocking as to warrant censorship or a rating’s issue.
Additional Viewing:
- The Shield
- The Wire
- Training Day (exluding the third act)
Rating: 7.5/10
Cumjackulation Rating: 9.0/10
(ratings explained)