Category Archives: Police Story

2010, Car Chase, Crime, Detective, Gangs, Mayhem, Mediocre, Mixed Martial Arts, Police Story, Revenge, Suspense, Violent

Takers (2010)

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From NetFlix:

With their collective eye on a huge payoff, a motley crew of bank robbers (including Paul Walker, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen) get busy planning out their next heist. Their former colleague, Ghost (T.I.), convinces the boys to target an armored car carrying $20 million. But a detective (Matt Dillon) who’s obsessed with his work is just as obsessed with making sure the thieves never pull off their scheme.

Yet another gang planning that great final heist with lots of car chases, shooting, foot chases, and general mayhem (read that – violence). If there is a main star, it is Matt Dillon obsessed with his work and ignoring his family. You have seen this film over and over. There is a foot chase that defies belief even if the runner is a super athlete. And of course there is an opposing Russian gang. As I have just said, you have already seen this plot many times.

As far as cast is concerned, this is the first time that I have seen Marianne Jean-Baptiste (of “Without a Trace” fame) in a film. Paul Walker did just about nothing in the film.

Next film, please!

2010, British, Car Chase, Crime, Dark, Drugs, Gay theme, Grim, Love Story, Police Story, Revenge, Serial Killer, Suspense, Violent

Blitz (2010)

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From NetFlix:

With an insidious serial killer known as “the Blitz” on the loose in London, Detective Brant (Jason Statham) takes to the case while working out his own aggression issues with a police-appointed psychiatrist. But when he and his partner (Paddy Considine) eventually corner a suspect, they don’t have enough evidence to apprehend him. Elliott Lester directs this frenetic crime thriller based on a novel by Ken Bruen.

“Blitz” offers the usual Jason Statham, take it or leave it. Of course he takes the law into his own violent hands despite being a British policeman, that goes without saying. Perhaps there is some novelty in the fact that:

  • His police division is noted for rough irregularities. That division gets a new boss (Porter Nash is the character’s name) who is both highly qualified and gay. Whereas the other policemen dislike and deride Nash, Detective Brant (Statham) respects and works well with him. In fact …
  • Brant confides in Nash that he, Brant, suffers from blackouts which Nash correctly attributes to burnout.

Cat and mouse with the serial killer is intelligently written. Eventually the killer gets his due. So does the amoral journalist who seeks glory in cooperating with the killer.

But in the end, it is the usual Statham.

2004, Car Chase, Crime, Detective, Police Story, Suspense, Violent

Cellular (2004)

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From NetFlix:

Ryan (Chris Evans) is driving in his car when his cell phone rings. But when he answers, there’s a stranger (Kim Basinger) on the other end of the line who’s desperate to get someone to help her, her husband and her son escape from the madman (Jason Statham) who’s abducted them. If Ryan fails to act quickly, innocent people will be killed. But his cell phone battery is low — and he has no idea where the helpless family is.

With the bent LAPD cop Jason Statham as your enemy you probably want to be really careful. (NetFlix is wrong, his character is NOT a madman). Kim Basinger (“Nine 1/2 Weeks””) we all know. Chris Evans (Jimmy in “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond”) at the time of filming was 30 years old and still looked like a kid. He also plays in the 2009 movie “Push”. William Macy as the good cop adds his usual brand of offbeat humor.

Some lesser actors are worth mentioning. Rick Hoffman you have seen a lot but probably don’t know his name. In this film he adds comic relief as a really arrogant lawyer whose Porche figures in the plot. He played Chase Chapman in “Samantha Who ?

It never fails to amaze me how often Richard Burgi pops up. He played the husband Craig Martin in the film. You may have seen him as Philip Collier in 18 episodes of “Days of our Lives”. He played a wife abuser in an episode of “Law and Order: SVU”.

Intense energy, clever and original action scenes and plots, and some comic relief made this film for me a fun experience. Somehow Ryan (Chris Evans) kept coming up with novel ways to foil the bad guys.

2010, Acceptable Trash, Car Chase, Comedy, Conspiracy, Cynical, Detective, Police Story, Vulgar

The Other Guys (2010)

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From NetFlix:

While an elite pair of New York City cops (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson) nabs headlines for their amazing heroics, fellow boys in blue Allen (Will Ferrell) and Terry (Mark Wahlberg) toil in obscurity as lowly desk jockeys, until a big break finally gives them a chance to tackle real police work. Rob Riggle, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton and Steve Coogan co-star in this action-packed comedy directed by Adam McKay.

Even NetFlix suggests on their page for this film that the R13 rating is really iffy for 13 year olds. Much of the script is just plain sophomoric or embarrassingly coarse. That being said, through much of the film I just laughed my head off. Clever sight gags always work for me. But more than that, it is the inane and unexpected dialog written for Ferrell and Wahlberg that was at times really very funny. Wahlberg is more or less the straight man to Ferrell’s off the wall speeches. Could any other actor have substituted for Ferrell (after all, it’s the script that counts) or does he have some special comic talent ?

There is a serious subtext running throughout. Using satire, the film is poking fun at the current corrupt financial culture of the United States. Names like AIG and Goldman Sachs keep popping up. Pay attention to the final credits which present an animated lecture showing just how much the financial CEOs profited from the losses of the “little people” (that’s most of us, folks!).

2010, Based on true facts, Conspiracy, Feel Good Not For Children, Lawyers, Nudity, Police Story, Prison, Underdogs win, Violent

Conviction (2010)

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From NetFlix:

Convinced that her brother, Kenneth (Sam Rockwell), has been unjustly convicted of murder and incompetently defended by court-ordered attorneys, high school dropout Betty Anne Waters (Hilary Swank) puts herself through law school in order to represent him in his appeal. Inspired by a true story, director Tony Goldwyn’s stirring drama also stars Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver, Peter Gallagher and Clea DuVall.

Miscarriages of justice, at least for me, are always compelling stories. Of course, you know that the film would not have been made if events had not turned out well for Kenneth Waters.

Read about about the history in the Wikipedia article. There you will also find mention of Martha Coakley, Attorney General of Massachusetts. In the film she comes off very badly. Hearing her name so often during the film was almost a shock. Read about her reaction to the film in the same Wikipedia article. Politicians always know the right thing to say.

Warning: Although the film is eventually a feel-good, getting to the end is a real roller-coaster of setbacks. At the very least, I can only admire the incredible and inspiring fortitude of Betty Anne Waters.

Do NOT miss the final frames which explain in text how things turned out after Kenneth got out of prison. Also the Wikipedia article has some follow through.

My biggest disappointment was that the corrupt woman Ayer police officer, Nancy Taylor, who framed Kenneth could not be prosecuted due to the Massachusetts statute of limitations.

2010, Cowboy, Crime, Detective, Drugs, Made For TV, Police Story, Sex Scenes, TV Series, Violent, Vulgar

Justified (2010)

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From NetFlix:

Based on an Elmore Leonard short story, “Justified” stars Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a young U.S. Marshal who’s been assigned to help keep order in the same Kentucky region where he spent his childhood. Givens is a thoughtful but determined old-style lawman who seems strangely out of place in a modern, turbulent society. That places him at odds not only with the criminals he pursues, but also with his bosses at the U.S. Marshals Service.

“Justified” gets its name from the pattern adopted by this TV series: U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens at least once in each episode is placed in a duel-like situation in which his gun is holstered and the one or more bad guys are armed visibly or with hidden weapons. Now these guys are soooooo bad that they are worth killing. Moreover the bad guy(s) always shoot first. Needless to say our hero Marshal Givens always gets his man. So you usually see a neat little bullet hole and maybe some blood. At any rate, the killing is JUSTIFIED (get it?) .

Actually the atmosphere is just like the home town feeling of the vampire series “True Blood” because Raylan was assigned to his old home town in Kentucky and knows a lot of good guys and bad guys. The badest guy of all is Raylan’s nasty crook of a father – and now we know why our hero became a police officer.

And yes Raylan does get to sleep with an attractive woman (with the required air of legal reluctance, “We should not do this too often”).

All said, the series is a lot of fun, the plots are not bad, and Timothy Olyphant knows how to act tongue in cheek. Try it, you’ll like it!

2010, Australian, Car Chase, Crime, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Grim, Lawyers, Police Story, Revenge, Slow, Suspense, Violent

Animal Kingdom (2010)

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From NetFlix:

When his mother dies suddenly, a 17-year-old boy (James Frecheville) finds himself drawn into the clutches of a diabolical criminal family, until a good-hearted detective (Guy Pearce) makes a concerted effort to change the boy’s fate. Australian writer-director David Michôd’s first feature-length drama won the World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival

How lucky I was to stumble on this gem of a film! Confirming my excited impressions are all the rave reviews in the Wikipedia article.

Instead of Joshua, the boy is called simply ‘J’. For this entire Australian film, the character J is practically mute. We can only assume that some awful battle is taking place inside. When he speaks it is usually some terse (i.e. one word) answer such as ‘yeah’, spoken with a strong Australian accent. Not all the characters are terse, especially if they are hopped up on cocaine.

Suspense is palpable, especially because J is trapped in a herd of unbalanced and unrestrained uncles who are guided, encouraged, and protected by a menacingly evil grandmother Smurf. Understand: this is a very controlled film atmosphere. There are violence, drug use, and insanity in a film that is mostly quiet, SLOW, and threatening.

Expect two surprising plot twists. Do NOT read the Wikipedia summary first because it will spoil these surprises.

Most memorable moment for me: Catch the interchange between Guy Pearce and the grandmother in the supermarket toward the end of the film.

Toward the end be sure to catch Guy Pierce asking J if J has “found his place in the world” and then ask yourself what that really meant when the film reaches its startling conclusion.

I highly recommend this film!

2004, Crime, Detective, Mystery Film, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Police Story, Psychological Thriller, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Stalker, Suspense, Violent

Twisted (2004)

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From NetFlix:

Female cop Jessica (Ashley Judd) is more dedicated to enforcing the law than most of her colleagues, since she feels she has a lot to make up for: Her father moonlighted as a serial killer. Could it be that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree? That’s what Jessica thinks when she finds herself at the center of her own investigation as past lovers inexplicably start dying at a breakneck pace.

Did I guess who-done-it ? No, I was wrong twice. Try your own luck.

Good acting, well shot in San Francisco, well-known actors, sexy! Could have been an hour TV crime show but the film is still a strong B+. Not a total waste of time.

2009, Crime, Detective, Drugs, Explicit sex, Gangs, Nudity, Police Story, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Violent

Brooklyn’s Finest (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Antoine Fuqua directs this tense drama about three wildly different New York cops whose paths collide in a Brooklyn housing project, where each must make a decision that will change the course of their lives forever. Cynical, washed-up Eddie (Richard Gere) no longer cares about the job or the rules; cash-strapped Sal (Ethan Hawke) sees a shortcut to solvency; and Tango (Don Cheadle) is torn between conflicting loyalties. Ellen Barkin co-stars.

Grim is the word that comes to mind, in addition to violent, bloody, despairing, cynical, etc. The scenes switch rapidly and constantly among the three separate stories. Only one officer reaches anything resembling positive closure and I’m not telling. Instead of watching this film, why not go and hug someone you love ?