Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Amaury Nolasco,
Jay Mohr, Terry Crews, Naomie Harris | Written by James Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer & Jamie Moss
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 105 minutes | Directed by David Ayer
David Ayer wrote Training Day, a fine movie about a ruthless corrupt cop. He then wrote and directed Harsh Times, a fine movie about a ruthless cop wannabe who probably would have become a really corrupt cop. He now returns with Street Kings, a fine movie about a semi-corrupt cop attempting to bring down some really corrupt cops. Can anyone else sense a pattern emerging? Whoever gave him that parking ticket a few years ago had no idea what they were unleashing..
If there's a flaw with this gripping and gritty tale, it is that it's somewhat (and unsurprisingly) derivative. You have seen all of this before — not least in Ayers previous work — but at least the man knows what he's doing behind a camera and he certainly knows what he's doing when it comes to keeping a script fresh. He teams up with here with, amongst others, James Ellroy, and bringing in James Ellroy is never a bad thing; hell, he's the scribe's equivalent of Chuck Norris.
Tom Ludlow (Reeves) is a veteran LAPD cop who's been struggling to come to terms with life following the death of his wife. Although he's tentatively rebuilding his existence, he's a risk-taker and rule-bender which annoys the Internal Affairs officer Captain Biggs (Laurie) but is celebrated by Ludlow's boss Captain Wander (Whitaker) and colleagues (Corbet, Mohr, Nolasco), the untouchables of the title.
However, when Ludlow's former partner Washington (Crews) is killed in a drugstore heist, evidence implicates Ludlow. Ludlow had the opportunity and, given the rumours about Washingon squealing to LA about Ludlow's investigative 'techniques', the motive. As the audience is aware, Ludlow had nothing to do with the slaying but, in order to clear his name, he's forced to take a stand against the police culture he's so willingly become part of.
As he's proved before, Ayer handles shades of moral grey with aplomb and that's certainly the case here. Even better, Ayer actually gets a genuine performance from Reeves and, while some support players are underused — especially Harris — there are also strong performances from Laurie and, particularly, Whitaker. The only catch is that sense of déjà vu - which is the only thing that stops Street Kings being an impressive four star movie.
EXTRAS *** An audio commentary with director David Ayer, 15 deleted scenes, 10 alternate scenes, four behind-the-scenes "vignetes", a making-of featurette, the theatrical trailer and two additional behind-the-scenes featurettes, called LA Bete Noir and Street Cred.