Street Kings

Introduction

I really don't understand the film industry anymore. Take Street Kings for instance. It's based on a script by James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential), directed by David Ayer (writer of Training Day), and stars Forest Whitaker and Keanu Reeves. Yet it gets a limited theatrical release in the UK's plethora of multiplexes. It's not an arthouse film, it's certainly not a film with subtitles, and in fact it's a pretty familiar genre, a pretty popular genre, of gritty film-noir cop thrillers. It doesn't have the so-called kiss of death 18 rating, despite a Robocop style slaying of a cop in a hail of automatic weapons fire, or the bad guy who dies with an exit wound through the face. It pretty much hits all the right notes in terms of mass audience appeal, yet it came and went this April with barely a flicker of attention from Joe Public. What was it, too many threequels out at the time? Anyway, it's out on DVD and Bluray now, and I shall proceed to tell you why you should give this film a second chance.


Tom Ludlow is a successful cop in the LAPD. He's also a burnt out alcoholic shell of a man who has never really gotten over the death of his wife. His success, and the success of his Vice Special unit, is built on dubious foundations. In a city where brutal criminality is rife, as are the slimy lawyers who manage to keep their clients out of prison, Ludlow's approach to justice suits his boss Captain Jack Wander just fine. Ludlow is an assassin, he goes into situations with the pre-meditated intent to kill the suspects, rearranges the evidence afterwards to make it look as if he followed procedure, and then his captain smoothes over the cracks in the case, and the unit gets a pat on the back for a job well done. Tom assuages his conscience by telling himself that he's getting the gangbangers, rapists, drug dealers and murderers permanently out of the system, but it's a narrow line he walks. That line is crossed when Internal Affairs gets involved. Ludlow's former partner Terrence Washington has been speaking to Captain James Biggs of IA about his former unit's tactics and Ludlow's methods. Hot tempered, Ludlow tries to confront Washington but the two get caught up in a convenience store robbery, and Washington is killed. With IA breathing down their necks, this doesn't look good, so Wander takes the step of disposing of the evidence that would incriminate Ludlow, as well as reassigning him until the storm blows over. But Ludlow's on a mission now to find the men who killed his ex-partner, and as he gets deeper and deeper into the case, he finds the only difference between the good guys and the bad guys turns out to be a matter of degree.

Picture

The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is excellent. You wouldn't expect less from a recent film, and the image is unblemished by film and digital artefacts throughout. It's also nice to see something of an old-fashioned cop thriller. There's hardly any shaky cam pseudo-verité here, none of the bleach-bypassed grittiness of urban decay. The image here is lush, colourful and strong. It's a film that actually looks like film, there is impressive use of the wide aspect, there is depth to the composition, and the bright decadent LA setting contrasts the dark tone of the story well.

Sound

DD 5.1 English does its job in establishing an atmosphere, and conveying the brutal action sequences. The dialogue is clear, and pretty sharp too. The characters have a wit and spark to them that draws you into the film. HOH English subtitles are provided. If you are partially sighted, then the audio descriptive track will be of use to you and in a nice touch, it's 5.1 as well.

Extras

At first glance, I was impressed at what was squeezed onto the disc.

You have your ubiquitous trailers for other Fox product, including Shutter, The Happening, and the impressive looking The Air I Breathe.

The audio commentary for the film comes from director David Ayer. It's a scene specific track, with a good amount of information about the making of the film. There is a lot to be had from this track and it's enjoyable to listen to, as Ayer is a clear, concise and well-prepared speaker. There aren't too many gaps here.

You get 15 deleted scenes running to a total of 12 minutes. There is optional commentary from the director, and the scenes are interesting to watch. Some are good, some not so much, and it's apparent why they aren't in the final film.


Alternate Takes, ten of them in total running to just under half an hour are also worth watching. There is a lot of good character stuff that got left by the wayside, although the alternate ending is better left forgotten.

L.A. Bete Noir is a 5-minute featurette that looks at the adaptation of the Ellroy script into the final movie, while Street Cred is a 4 minute look at the authenticity of the street culture shown in the film, and some of the casting that went towards it.

It's when I saw the Vignettes and the Behind The Scenes sections that I realised how they managed to keep this disc from overflowing. There are four vignettes, totalling 8 minutes, which offer little EPK glimpses of various aspects of the film, from a stunt, to the casting, as well as some of the preparation that went into the roles. Behind The Scenes is more of the same, 4 mini-featurettes that run to no more than a minute apiece and if you blink, you'll miss them.

It's all topped off with the ubiquitous theatrical trailer. It's one of those dumb, stupid, and ill conceived, buggered up trailers, which if you watch, you may as well not watch the film. It gives it all away.

Conclusion

As tough, gritty, noir cop thrillers go, Street Kings is one of the best I've seen in ages. It grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and doesn't let go for its fast paced 105-minute runtime. It's one of those dark side of humanity thrillers where there are no good guys and bad guys, just various shades of grey, with some of the ostensible heroes darker than some of villains they chase. I've been on something of a Keanu avoidance scheme ever since the Matrix trilogy imploded, but he was a revelation here. He plays Tom Ludlow with a casual brutality and callousness that is very effective. He's damaged goods, needing a hit of vodka just to get going in the morning, and jaded to the corruption and illegality that's all around him in his department. His rage and guilt over his wife's death make him the perfect weapon for his department chief, Captain Jack Wander. It's a case of pointing him at the criminals and setting him off. That callousness is balanced by his relationship with Grace Garcia, a nurse at the hospital where he often ends up, and who serves as his moral compass.


I enjoyed Forest Whitaker as Jack Wander, a sociopath of a police captain. I'm sure there are members of the police who lament the legal system as it apparently gets in the way of justice, and no doubt there are temptations to bend the occasional procedural rule to do what's right. Wander has been doing it so long that it's become his modus operandi. He's gathered a unit of like minded officers around him, which he considers his family, duty bound to protect and nurture, and as long as the unit keeps giving results, it seems as if those higher up are willing to turn a blind eye. Those except Internal Affairs that is, and it's when the two sides butt heads that the trouble begins. Naturally Wander wants to protect his team, and he's avuncular, friendly towards them, yet switches in the blink of an eye to furious rage when it seems his territory is threatened. He also has a cold callousness towards even the cops who get in his way that can be chilling.


It's the character dynamic between the two men that carries the film and makes it engrossing, but there are one or two flaws. The first is that it doesn't require a degree in rocket science to figure out who the bad guys are. I'd realised it the moment that Washington was gunned down, before that in fact, as this film follows a very familiar pattern. In fact it would have been a turn up for the books had the antagonist been anyone else. With that degree of predictability, it never becomes a whodunit, the point of the film becomes finding out how and why. That fact is realised early on in the narrative, and refreshingly the film doesn't really go to any lengths to disguise or misdirect.


The other problem is the clichéd bad cops. To be fair this is a thriller of the old school, the sort of movie that has been made on and off for forty years now, and without certain clichés it would be a barren experience. But in a film where everyone is a villain of sorts, and even the IA Captain (Hugh Laurie donning a nasal American twang to good effect again) isn't beyond stepping outside the rules to achieve his ends, some cops are just too villainous. Both Wander and Ludlow are cops who crossed the line in order to do right, and then just kept on walking. Their goals initially were pure, but as their hands became increasingly bloodstained, their motives were corrupted. But some of the cops are just leering thugs that got sent to the police academy instead of prison by mistake. They aren't breaking the law to uphold it; they're breaking it for kicks, which undermines the film's message somewhat.


And there is a message beneath all the brutality, backstabbing and mayhem. There's a point where upholding the law becomes impossible when the very same law works against the police. When the criminals are brutal, violent and damaging to society to a degree where the legal system is hamstrung, you actually need men like Tom Ludlow to clean house. But by relying on such men, you become the sort of group that you're actually protecting society from, especially once you've had that taste of power. The film asks that question, but obviously there are no easy answers. It certainly does make you think though.

Street Kings is a decent cop thriller, a decent action movie, and a decent Keanu movie too. And it's utter bliss to watch a recent Hollywood film without the over-processed gritty bleach look, and the vomit inducing shaky cam. It's well worth a couple of hours of your time. Heartily recommended.