Detective Knight: Rogue was directed by Edward Drake (Breach, Gasoline Alley), co-written by Drake and Corey Large (Apex, Cosmic Sin), and stars Beau Mirchoff (Awkward, Scary Movie 4), Bruce Willis (Wire Room, Acts of Violence), Trevor Gretzky (American Siege, 40-Love), Keeya King (Yellowjackets, Rush for Your Life), Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes, Joy), Michael Eklund (West of Hell, Nurse), Corey Large, and Lochlyn Munro (Margaux, Riverdale). It follows a group of masked criminals from California to New York on Halloween with a cop in pursuit with hopes of bringing them down. Directorially, Detective Knight: Rogue shows a clearer picture of what the helmer can do. Stylistics are mixed, with some choices to show cheesy flashbacks and an out-of-place title card that clashes with better ones that show Knight's state of mind, but there's a spark rising up somewhere in there. His direction in the edit, which was done by Justin Williams (Hunter's Moon, The Walk), is solid and full of interesting match cuts and transitions between scenes that are unremarkably lensed by Laffrey Witbrod (Girls After Dark, Game Day).
Raw production elements are still iffy, with locations that range from well-dressed and glossy to indeterminate junkyard hideout #358. It's probably for this reason that the lighting can occasionally be a bit flat, and the lowish budget doesn't help with the blending of CGI city extensions with real, inconsistently lit locations. Some of Detective Knight: Rogue's audio can be a problem too, as a handful of scenes sound like they were recorded inside of a tin can, making ADR a logical choice that isn't selected. This movie is at least the best produced and directed out of any of Drake's collaborations with Willis in spite of the flaws it does have.
Detective Knight: Rogue isn't a great crime film but after a groggy first act, it does give way to some cool crimes, decent characters, and a degree of novelty given the holiday it eventually uses when it's done being cliche. Drake hasn't been the luckiest director to work in the business. Often working with productions whose scripts were pieced together from multiple screenplays, had a low budget, and rarely had more than two weeks to shoot the thing. With Detective Knight: Rogue, he gets tossed a bone.
Raw production elements are still iffy, with locations that range from well-dressed and glossy to indeterminate junkyard hideout #358. It's probably for this reason that the lighting can occasionally be a bit flat, and the lowish budget doesn't help with the blending of CGI city extensions with real, inconsistently lit locations. Some of Detective Knight: Rogue's audio can be a problem too, as a handful of scenes sound like they were recorded inside of a tin can, making ADR a logical choice that isn't selected. This movie is at least the best produced and directed out of any of Drake's collaborations with Willis in spite of the flaws it does have.
Detective Knight: Rogue isn't a great crime film but after a groggy first act, it does give way to some cool crimes, decent characters, and a degree of novelty given the holiday it eventually uses when it's done being cliche. Drake hasn't been the luckiest director to work in the business. Often working with productions whose scripts were pieced together from multiple screenplays, had a low budget, and rarely had more than two weeks to shoot the thing. With Detective Knight: Rogue, he gets tossed a bone.