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Review #633 of 365
Movie Review of Street Kings (2008) [R] 109 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When Seen: 11 April 2008
Time: 12:00 pm
DVD Release Date: 19 August 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
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Directed by: David Ayer (Harsh Times)
Screenplay by: James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia) • Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet) • Jamie Moss (debut) with story by James Ellroy
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Keanu Reeves (The Lake House) • Forest Whitaker (The Great Debaters) • Hugh Laurie ("House, M.D.") • Chris Evans (The Nanny Diaries) • Martha Higareda (Borderland) • Cedric the Entertainer (Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins) • Jay Mohr ("Ghost Whisperer") • Terry Crews (Balls of Fury) • Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)
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It would be tempting however cliché to write voluminously about how Street Kings is no Training Day. Of course it's not, nor should it be. The two films do share a common creation pedigree of sorts. The stories virtually are set in similar gangland rogue cop Los Angeles territory and feature top acting talents—though the scales would probably tip a bit more in the direction of Denzel Washington/Ethan Hawke than that of Forest Whitaker and Keanu Reeves with all due respect to Keanu fans. Street Kings begins with an introduction to a special unit within the LAPD commanded by Captain Jack Wander—his last name, perhaps, a euphemism for his respect for the rule of law in that he deviates from those nagging technicalities that he believes prevent his men from actually doing their job. You know the sorts of things like warrants, innocent until proven guilty, and Miranda rights. His prized fighter is a rogue street warrior cop named Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) who lost his wife to a senseless murder and subsists by deadening his pain using airline mini-sized bottles of vodka believing it to be undetectable. The only thing possibly more dangerous on the streets if you are a criminal than Ludlow would be your partner in crime if he suspects you're holding back on the take. His actions while on the surface heroic as he locates and rescues a pair of young, missing Korean sisters from a cage in the bowels of an underground crime organization. He single-handedly wipes out the leadership and rescues the girls from captivity—of course, he follows no book, yields no paperwork, asks no questions, and takes no prisoners. For this, he earns the adoration of his commander, respect or envy of his peers, heroic status in the papers, and a huge target on his back with Internal Affairs investigator, Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie).
occasionally convoluted but always twisty cop drama
How quickly the mighty fall, Tom learns, when his former partner Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) seems to be in figurative bed with Biggs feeding him information regarding the possibly criminal activities of Wander's special unit. Before Tom can get to Terry to shut his mouth, and despite orders from Wander to stay as far away from Washington as possible, Washington falls victim to an all out assault in a stereotypical convenience store right before his eyes. Explaining his presence as the scene of the crime becomes not only a challenge for Wander's Unit but one that eventually threatens its existence. With the motive of self-preservation superceding all else, the remainder of the dramatic tension in the film then, is derived from Tom's intentions to get to the bottom of this assassination and eventually understand his place in the world relative to the deceptive lifestyle he's grown to crave in his deeply depressed and disturbed mental state.
David Ayer, no stranger to directing those of dubious moral codes, check (Harsh Times), gets all wrapped up in Street Kings which is as much about Tom Ludlow escaping his demon-haunted world as it is about the power-hungry, depraved plunge into an overly self-indulgent world that is that of Captain Jack Wander. Keanu Reeves, for his part, plays the steely, often emotionless Ludlow well, though he still seems unable to free himself from the pained, constipated facial expression that's been plastered on his face for The Matrix and sort of never got removed or changed. Couple this with his lone wolf character who really needs a high quality, self-balancing, sidekick like Martin Riggs gets Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series. Instead he gets a decidedly cheeky Paul Diskant (Chris Evans) who tries but really doesn't ever quite fit the part. Mr. Whitaker need not bother to have taken his role as the nearly maniacal Wander not because he does a bad job but because he's worthy and capable of so much more. It times like these that the underlings usually stand out more, and in this case it was Jay Mohr playing a not-so-nice guy and an uncomfortably hilarious performance by Cedric the Entertaining as Scribble that might most be remembered from this occasionally convoluted but always twisty cop drama film.
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Cast Members
Keanu Reeves • Forest Whitaker • Hugh Laurie
Chris Evans • Martha Higareda • Cedric the Entertainer
Jay Mohr • Terry Crews • Naomie Harris
Director
David Ayer
Writers
James Ellroy • Kurt Wimmer • Jamie Moss
Review-lite
Street Kings (2008) [max of 150 words]
Director David Ayer, no stranger to directing those of dubious moral codes gets all wrapped up in Street Kings about a special unit detective named Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) escaping his demon-haunted world fashioned by his power-hungry, depraved, overly self-indulgent boss, Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Reeves, for his part, plays the steely, emotionless Ludlow well, though he seems unable to free himself from the pained, constipated facial expression that's been plastered on his face since The Matrix. Mr. Whitaker need not bother to have taken his role as the nearly maniacal Wander not because he does a bad job but because he's worthy and capable of so much more. It times like these that the underlings usually stand out more, and in this case it was Jay Mohr playing a not-so-nice guy and an uncomfortably hilarious performance by Cedric the Entertaining that might most be remembered from this occasionally convoluted but always twisty cop drama film.
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