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Leatherheads.
by John P.
McCarthy, Gazette
Movie Critic
Street
Kings
Directed by: David Ayer
Running Time: 107 minutes
Principal Actors:
Keanu Reeves — Detective Tom Ludlow
Forest Whitaker — Captain Jack Wander
Hugh Laurie — Captain James Biggs
Rated: R
Grade: *** (out of 5)
Though he’d never let on, Sgt.
Joe Friday would be devastated if "Street
Kings," a brutal cop thriller directed by the
screenwriter of "Training Day," ever unreeled in
that squad room in the sky.
Jack Webb’s stoical, by-the-book "Dragnet"
creation couldn’t fathom systemic corruption
within the LAPD -- the Men in Blue doing
everything but protecting and serving. In
contrast, writer James Ellroy (“LA
Confidential”, "The Black Dahlia") relishes the
milieu and the violent drama it begets. Street
Kings is based on one of his stories and he’s
credited with co-writing the script.
A recurring story pushed to the hilt, Street
Kings has a fiercely hyperbolic integrity. You
feel sorry for the criminal element, no matter
how depraved. While undistinguished
stylistically, David Ayer’s second directorial
effort matches the blunt tactics of the
so-called peace officers and is never dull.
Keanu Reeves plays Detective Tom Ludlow, a
renegade with a taste for bagging baddies by the
most deadly and dirty means. In a memorable
opening sequence, Ludlow wakes up as the sun is
setting. He loads his gun, wretches, brushes his
teeth, and -- on the way to an undercover gun
buy -- stops at a liquor store to top up his
supply of vodka. Things don’t go well when he
tries to sell firearms to some Korean thugs out
of the back of his black muscle car; but the
encounter leads to a solo rampage in which the
gun-slinging hothead solves a major crime.
Ludlow isn’t a well-adjusted guy who rationally
chooses extreme policing methods as the best way
to keep the streets clean. His trademark tactic
is battering an uncooperative perp or potential
stool pigeon with the Yellow Pages. He’d
consider water boarding too humane and
time-consuming. The usual things fuel his primal
fury. In addition to quaffing booze out of tiny
airline bottles, his suicidal fearlessness stems
from his wife’s unsolved murder. The fact he has
the shoulder of a Latina ER nurse (Martha
Higareda) to cry on hardly sets him apart.
No, what makes Ludlow interesting is that he’s a
member of a Vice Squad led by the nattily
dressed Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker).
Ludlow is not a team player and is crazier than
the rest of the posse. Fortunately or not, his
charismatic leader Wander has his back. When
Ludlow’s old partner — who disapproved of the
unit’s methods — is killed and he’s implicated,
Wander vows to handle it.
Ludlow takes a desk job fielding civilian
complaints against cops while Wander’s plan
plays out. The greenhorn homicide detective
(Chris Evans) investigating is willing to go
along with the conspiracy; but soon Ludlow,
motivated more by revenge than self-preservation
or an attack of conscience, convinces him they
should find the real killers. Figuring out where
the plot is headed won’t earn you any stripes,
although there is a satisfying and appropriate
twist.
Ellroy’s fascination with dirty cops is
contagious. It’s not Pollyannaish to be
disgusted and worried about police corruption on
the scale depicted in "Street Kings." Nor is it
a contradiction to be transfixed by it. Once he
got over the shock, even Sgt. Joe Friday might
be entertained.
For a complete listing of current movies
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