"Cop" begins with a highly amusing recording of a member of the public trying to report a murder to the LAPD and ends brilliantly with a scene which makes a lasting impression because of the abrupt way in which it ends. In between these two passages, the action focuses on a murder investigation that's undertaken by a maverick cop who uses some very unscrupulous methods to hunt down a serial killer. As the story's based on a James Ellroy novel ("Blood on the Moon"), it's no surprise to find that it features a number of very shady characters and a plot that's rather involved, hardboiled and often lurid. It also plays out like a police procedural that's extremely violent at times but also surprisingly funny as it contains a lot of black humour.
Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins (James Woods) goes to an L.A. apartment building to follow up a report of a murder and finds the place splattered in blood and the mutilated body of a young woman hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom. After calling for assistance, he looks through the victim's collection of feminist literature and some newspaper advertisements for swingers' parties. Later, when he goes home, he tells his eight year old daughter a bedtime story that's based on his experiences of dealing with some very disreputable criminals and immediately after, gets told by his wife how much she disapproves of his brand of bedtime stories and that, in her opinion, he's a sick individual who's in need of psychological help.
The newspaper ads he'd examined at the crime scene provide Hopkins with a lead to Joanie Pratt (Randi Brooks) and it emerges that this ex-actress who now works as a hooker and an organiser of swingers' parties, had assisted the murder victim with her research for a book she was writing about the sex industry. More alarmingly, however, Hopkins finds a poem written in human blood that was in the possession of the dead woman and hinted that her murder might be the work of a serial killer. Having made this discovery, he approaches Captain Fred Gaffney (Raymond J Barry) to request that extra resources be devoted to his investigation but the born-again Christian refuses because talk of serial killers alarms the public and too much scrutiny of how inadequately some historical cases were dealt with , could attract some heavy criticism.
Hopkins, who's not prepared to be deterred from his pursuit of the killer, immediately calls for the files on every unsolved murder of a single woman that's been reported in the last 15 years and some suspicious information that he retrieves from these records, leads to the discovery that a corrupt cop named Delbert "Whitey" Haines (Charles Haid) had not only recorded two of the deaths as suicides but is also currently involved in drug dealing and running a male prostitution business. Further evidence he finds that the murder victim had purchased her feminist literature from a bookstore run by Kathleen McCarthy (Lesley Ann Warren) leads Hopkins to interviewing her and having the opportunity to see some photographs in her high school yearbook which prove to be instrumental in bringing his investigation to a swift and successful conclusion.
Although "Cop" is ostensibly a crime thriller, it could more accurately be described as a character study of a dedicated, determined and damaged individual who, although widely regarded as a good cop because of his high conviction rate, is actually a completely amoral guy who has no principles or respect for the rules of the society he serves, the organisation he works for or his superior officers. In this movie, he's seen illegally breaking into properties, indulging in sexual liaisons with potential witnesses, participating in an unauthorised stakeout and extracting a confession from a suspect by holding a gun to his head and playing Russian roulette with it. His strong belief that "innocence kills" and leads to young women becoming the victims of pimps, psychopaths or psychiatrists is also clearly a consequence of his long experience of dealing, almost daily, with some of the most debased forms of human depravity imaginable and provides an explanation for some of his flawed judgement, particularly in relation to his parenting skills.
James Woods brings immense energy and intensity to his role as well as an exceptional ability to deliver dialogue at an incredibly high speed (especially in the early scenes) and his interactions with the other characters are tremendously disrespectful but also great to watch. Overall, despite there being some facets of Kathleen's character that seem inconsistent with each other, this is a movie that's well worth watching but , because of its content, is not really likely to appeal to a wide audience.
Detective Sergeant Lloyd Hopkins (James Woods) goes to an L.A. apartment building to follow up a report of a murder and finds the place splattered in blood and the mutilated body of a young woman hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom. After calling for assistance, he looks through the victim's collection of feminist literature and some newspaper advertisements for swingers' parties. Later, when he goes home, he tells his eight year old daughter a bedtime story that's based on his experiences of dealing with some very disreputable criminals and immediately after, gets told by his wife how much she disapproves of his brand of bedtime stories and that, in her opinion, he's a sick individual who's in need of psychological help.
The newspaper ads he'd examined at the crime scene provide Hopkins with a lead to Joanie Pratt (Randi Brooks) and it emerges that this ex-actress who now works as a hooker and an organiser of swingers' parties, had assisted the murder victim with her research for a book she was writing about the sex industry. More alarmingly, however, Hopkins finds a poem written in human blood that was in the possession of the dead woman and hinted that her murder might be the work of a serial killer. Having made this discovery, he approaches Captain Fred Gaffney (Raymond J Barry) to request that extra resources be devoted to his investigation but the born-again Christian refuses because talk of serial killers alarms the public and too much scrutiny of how inadequately some historical cases were dealt with , could attract some heavy criticism.
Hopkins, who's not prepared to be deterred from his pursuit of the killer, immediately calls for the files on every unsolved murder of a single woman that's been reported in the last 15 years and some suspicious information that he retrieves from these records, leads to the discovery that a corrupt cop named Delbert "Whitey" Haines (Charles Haid) had not only recorded two of the deaths as suicides but is also currently involved in drug dealing and running a male prostitution business. Further evidence he finds that the murder victim had purchased her feminist literature from a bookstore run by Kathleen McCarthy (Lesley Ann Warren) leads Hopkins to interviewing her and having the opportunity to see some photographs in her high school yearbook which prove to be instrumental in bringing his investigation to a swift and successful conclusion.
Although "Cop" is ostensibly a crime thriller, it could more accurately be described as a character study of a dedicated, determined and damaged individual who, although widely regarded as a good cop because of his high conviction rate, is actually a completely amoral guy who has no principles or respect for the rules of the society he serves, the organisation he works for or his superior officers. In this movie, he's seen illegally breaking into properties, indulging in sexual liaisons with potential witnesses, participating in an unauthorised stakeout and extracting a confession from a suspect by holding a gun to his head and playing Russian roulette with it. His strong belief that "innocence kills" and leads to young women becoming the victims of pimps, psychopaths or psychiatrists is also clearly a consequence of his long experience of dealing, almost daily, with some of the most debased forms of human depravity imaginable and provides an explanation for some of his flawed judgement, particularly in relation to his parenting skills.
James Woods brings immense energy and intensity to his role as well as an exceptional ability to deliver dialogue at an incredibly high speed (especially in the early scenes) and his interactions with the other characters are tremendously disrespectful but also great to watch. Overall, despite there being some facets of Kathleen's character that seem inconsistent with each other, this is a movie that's well worth watching but , because of its content, is not really likely to appeal to a wide audience.