Movie Review: Street Kings

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 23, 2008

David Ayer is back and still busy telling us how corrupt the cops of the Los Angeles Police Department are in this Keanu Reeves cop drama. If I believed all his movies, I should put serious thought into moving. Street Kings follows Detective Tom Ludlow, part cop part sanctioned vigilante enforcer and, of course, part alcoholic who must dodge gangsters, double crosses, and internal affairs as he works his way around a murder.

Tom and his fellows on Vice are pretty rough and dirty. Planting evidence, executing bad guys; you name it, they do it. Things go as smooth as possible until one among them, Ludlow’s former partner Washington, starts to go, at least partially, clean and begins implicating the others in some dirty business. Ludlow finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and Washington ends up dead with evidence wrongly indicating Tom had some part in it. From here, the hard drinking cop finds out he can no longer trust even those closest to him as the house of cards begins to fall down.

Criticism of this film is fairly divided. A lot of people have found it laughable, generally aiming at Keanu Reeves. A fair share of audience members have really gotten into it though. I fall somewhere in between the two sides, acknowledging the story as somewhat flat and tired, but at the end, fairly interesting and a touch more complex than many will give it credit for. I will never apologize for being a Keanu Reeves fan, I like the guy. I think he did a fine job in this film. Hugh Laurie is ok, but doesn’t really have much to do. Hopefully his success on House will continue to push him towards bigger and better roles. Forest Whitaker manages to keep his overacting under control until the last act, which is good. One of the best parts of the film is relative newcomer to American screens, Martha Higareda. Man, is this one Latina! I would do things I can’t even type without going to jail to her and for her. Err.

For me, the best part of the film is the violence. Ayer always brings a gritty bit of realism to the films, whether he’s written it or directed it. Not very many people portray gunshots accurately, and he at least strives for some degree of truth in wounding. The bullet hits here are painful, bloody, and ragged, just like they should be. They’re not clean, they bleed a lot, and bodies look like hell when they’re done being shot. The weapons behave almost like they really would too, with accurate damage, workings, etc. I was glad to see that. I really only had one or two problems with how they handled weapons in the film, where as in most movies I can spot about two or three dozen ‘Hollywood’ moments in the firearm handling.

Watchability. I liked it. My friends loved it. I would watch it again, provided I was bored and didn’t have to pay for it. It’s not a bad film, it just feels as though I’ve seen it before. It failed to bring anything new to the table. For those less familiar with this genre of bad-cop toeing the line type stuff, it probably seems pretty badass. Cinematically, it looks good. The direction is competent, the acting overall is good, its well made. Even Common, the rapper, turns in a pretty good performance, though his part is somewhat absurdly written. The Game shows up for a bit too and, I felt, failed for most of his deliveries. Thankfully, Cedric the Entertainer, who was misguidedly cast in this film, is only on screen for a few brief moments.

Overall this is a decent flick. I can’t recommend you in any direction. If you’re interested in seeing it; go see it. It is not enthralling or disappointing. If you have no interest; avoid it. I don’t think there is anything here to win you over. A fairly standard type story executed fairly ok. I still love you, Keanu.

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