Director: David Ayer
This is how we like our drama: gritty, edgy and with plenty of wobbly cinematography. Although this endlessly rehashed story of police corruption has been told numerous times before, it somehow never fails to entertain when it's done well.
"Street Kings" is by no means the best example of the genre but it's still a fine film. The convoluted plot involves a "Training Day"-style tour of the ghettos of Los Angeles as loose canon Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) tries to get to the bottom of a seriously complicated situation.
Ludlow, who is in the habit of sleeping in his clothes and drinking copious quantities of vodka, is initially shown in a bad light. Devastated by the death of his ex-wife, he's a fearless exponent of rough justice, happy to kill bad guys and then rearrange the crime scene, thanks to the backing and support of his superior, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker).
Ludlow is led to believe that his ex-partner is spilling the dirt on him (to use the jargon). But when he follows him into a store, with the relatively harmless intention of breaking his jaw, two men burst in and shoot his ex-partner dead. Caught on camera, the murder looks suspiciously like Ludlow has a hand in it. Indeed, although technically innocent, he does use the opportunity to put a bullet in his ex-partner as they're ducking in the aisles.
The story gets so complicated thereafter that I can't even sum it up in brief. Suffice it to say that it's morally very murky.
Keanu Reeves does a great job as the avenging bulldog. He barely even has to act: he just swigs vodka and looks sour. Forest Whitaker is as good as ever: his beady brow and ambiguous smile brings a depth to the story that would otherwise be lacking amid so many gym-pumped muscles and so much "dawg" talk.
"Street Kings" certainly doesn't lack in dramatic cliche: from Chris Evans' naive young cop to Keanu Reeve's grief-driven despair. But Los Angeles is such a surreal, nightmarish place that it almost seems to have been especially made, like one giant film set, for stories like this.
Moral issues in present-day America are frighteningly black and white, often reducible to bumper sticker platitudes. Thank God then for corrupt cop films, which never tire in showing how power can corrupt. As one cop says, it's all about how they write up the crime.
Opens April 18 in Latvia
