An infamous undercover cop becomes a pawn when he is implicated in the murder of his former partner.
What could have been an average police corruption thriller is elevated by Keanu Reeves, the supporting actors and David Ayer's kinetic slick direction. Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie and Chris Evans are on form. Notable is Terry Crews as ill-fated Terrence Washington. Reeves delivers the flawed alcoholic cop Detective Tom Ludlow successfully, while the role may not be as suitable as John Wick, it certainly one of his more dramatic roles.
The film stands in the shadow of the like of Training Day (2001) but has enough punch, with bloody hard hitting scenes to stand on its own. It's probably on par with the comparable Dark Blue (2002, Ayer incidentally wrote the screenplay) but unavoidably falls into the trappings of the genre.
Ayer's is wise to use a predominately on location shoot and portray graphic violence to give credence and weight to the proceedings. As Ludlow is set up and goes about uncovering a deeper conspiracy screenplay writers, the profound James Ellroy and underrated Kurt Wimmer successfully dot i's and cross the t's crafting a satisfying if somewhat predictable tale. The ending emulates the feeling of the closing of Dirty Harry (1971). Always topical and prevalent, I suppose you can never have too many films which highlight the pitfalls of greed and corruption.
Overall, formulaic yet entertaining.
What could have been an average police corruption thriller is elevated by Keanu Reeves, the supporting actors and David Ayer's kinetic slick direction. Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie and Chris Evans are on form. Notable is Terry Crews as ill-fated Terrence Washington. Reeves delivers the flawed alcoholic cop Detective Tom Ludlow successfully, while the role may not be as suitable as John Wick, it certainly one of his more dramatic roles.
The film stands in the shadow of the like of Training Day (2001) but has enough punch, with bloody hard hitting scenes to stand on its own. It's probably on par with the comparable Dark Blue (2002, Ayer incidentally wrote the screenplay) but unavoidably falls into the trappings of the genre.
Ayer's is wise to use a predominately on location shoot and portray graphic violence to give credence and weight to the proceedings. As Ludlow is set up and goes about uncovering a deeper conspiracy screenplay writers, the profound James Ellroy and underrated Kurt Wimmer successfully dot i's and cross the t's crafting a satisfying if somewhat predictable tale. The ending emulates the feeling of the closing of Dirty Harry (1971). Always topical and prevalent, I suppose you can never have too many films which highlight the pitfalls of greed and corruption.
Overall, formulaic yet entertaining.