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The one thing Reeves does seem to be able to play though (funnily
enough, it's probably the furthest from real life Keanu) is a cop.
He rocked Point Break
with his cocky, slick Johnny Utah - and forced audiences to put all
their trust in him as Jack Travern floored an out-of-control bus in the
smash-hit Speed.
In Street Kings, Reeves re-inherits the badge. Only this time, he's less of a superhero and more of a normal guy. Imagine Speed's Jack five years after losing Sandra Bullock to Jason Patric and you kind of get the picture.
Reeves
is at his best (must be something to do with the badge, or the gun that
brings out the most in the man) as LAPD cop Tom Ludlow, a screwed up
son-of-a-bitch whose still mourning the loss of his wife, and as a
consequence, constantly juicing on liquid energy.
This chap is a
bit of an anti hero - he's the guy the captain (Forest Whitaker) calls
in to 'take out' the garbage (and that he does - guns a blazing!), when
the boss feels their number is up, whether the victims open fire first
or not.
When Ludlow receives a tip that his former partner,
Washington (Terry Crews), might be about to rat him out, he sets off
after him - seemingly, just to punch his lights out, nothing grave.
This is where things take a stern turn.
The frenzied cop follows
Washington into a convenience store where their brawl is followed by an
unplanned (or is it?) shooting by a couple of gang-bangers, that leaves
the snitch dead. Of course, now it's going to look like Ludlow had
something to do with it - enter, the Captain, whose only too glad to
rid of the store's surveillance tape.
Once again, Ludlow's in the clear.
This
is all well-and-good, thinks Ludlow, but if the captain is happy to
cover this up... what else is he capable of - and what other skeletons
is he hiding in his closet?
With the help of a wet-behind-the-ears colleague named 'Disco' (Chris Evans - given much more to do here than he's ever been given in Fantastic Four), the conflicted copper sets out to get some answers.
If you've seen Copland, Training Day or Dark Blue, you've seen this. There's not much new in director David (Harsh Times)
Ayer's film. It's predictable thinly written fluff, a film that might
otherwise have went direct to DVD if it didn't feature such a
stupendous cast.
Having said that, if you're in the mood for a
good leave-your-brain-at-the-door popcorn actioner, there's a lot here
to munch on. There's plenty of fun scenes - a highlight is seeing
Reeves' burnt-out copper smashing a suspect over the head with a phone
book, a few million times - and the cast is terrific. It's even better
to see guys like Jay Mohr and John Corbett getting to play against type
for a change. In the case of the latter two, they play uber-corrupt and
rather deadly coppers, while Cedric the Entertainer and Hugh Laurie
also play dissimilar characters than we're used to seeing them play.
The
production values of the film are also superb - the cinematography is
amazing, the music packs a punch, and the action sequences are captured
terrifically. But mostly, it's good to see Reeves giving something
resembling a performance - something he doesn't do too often. He's
actually 'good' here - rather than 'tolerable', which is what most will
expect.
Unfortunately, the story lets all those other 'good'
elements down - it's just not original enough, which is a shame and a
surprise, especially when you consider that three writers worked on the
movie... one being famed crime-pic writer James Ellroy (L.A Confidential).
Switch off - then enjoy.
DVD EXTRAS
Over 25 deleted scenes (yep, a bit much), a commentary track by
Ayer, and 10-making of featurettes (none of which are especially
interesting).
Conclusion:
Movie 65% Extras: 60%
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