'Street Kings' is one of the most recent films to focus on police corruption and it does handle the storyline in a reasonable manner, although there is nothing that special with the film. Set against the backdrop of a gang-ridden Los Angeles, the films centres on Tom Ludlow, a cop who isn't above breaking the law to catch (or rather, kill) the bad guys and he does so with the approval of his team captain Jack Wander and fellow cops. However, when a former friend, himself a cop, is murdered brutally, Ludlow is implicated and slowly awakens to the moralities of his actions when he uncovers a darker side to his precinct during his struggle to prove his innocence.
Keanu Reeves does a good job in his role as Ludlow, successfully demonstrating the character's moral ambiguity that leaves the audience undecided on whether to cheer him on or not. Forest Whittaker makes for an excellent Wander, though we expect no less from him, while Chris Evans does well as Paul Diskant, the young cop who works with Ludlow and who thinks he understands how things work yet, next to Ludlow, only shows how naive and inexperienced he can be.
The storyline wasn't meaty enough when it came to properly handling the premise of police corruption in terms of the repercussions and delving into how Ludlow became who he was (and, in turn, why he was able to pull away before becoming too caught up in the darkness). I think I would have added an extra star or two if Hugh Laurie's character-- the Internal Affairs captain who is ultimately a good guy but one who knows he has to play the game a little to catch the big fish-- had been developed more and we saw a deeper insight into Ludlow realising the implications of his actions, further developing the idea that the film tries to question over moralities, sacrifices, what makes someone 'good' and when do the good guys become the enemy.
As such, while I did enjoy the film, it is ultimately just a cop action flick with plenty of shooting scenes and chases. It does entertain but 'Training Day' and 'The Departed' do better in exploring the issues 'Street Kings' touches upon.
Keanu Reeves does a good job in his role as Ludlow, successfully demonstrating the character's moral ambiguity that leaves the audience undecided on whether to cheer him on or not. Forest Whittaker makes for an excellent Wander, though we expect no less from him, while Chris Evans does well as Paul Diskant, the young cop who works with Ludlow and who thinks he understands how things work yet, next to Ludlow, only shows how naive and inexperienced he can be.
The storyline wasn't meaty enough when it came to properly handling the premise of police corruption in terms of the repercussions and delving into how Ludlow became who he was (and, in turn, why he was able to pull away before becoming too caught up in the darkness). I think I would have added an extra star or two if Hugh Laurie's character-- the Internal Affairs captain who is ultimately a good guy but one who knows he has to play the game a little to catch the big fish-- had been developed more and we saw a deeper insight into Ludlow realising the implications of his actions, further developing the idea that the film tries to question over moralities, sacrifices, what makes someone 'good' and when do the good guys become the enemy.
As such, while I did enjoy the film, it is ultimately just a cop action flick with plenty of shooting scenes and chases. It does entertain but 'Training Day' and 'The Departed' do better in exploring the issues 'Street Kings' touches upon.