Narc

2.5/4

Starring: Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, Chi McBride, Alan Van Sprang

Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence, Drug Content, and Pervasive Language

“Narc” is an uber-bleak cop movie about two cops who have gone over to the dark side and are desperately trying to find their way to the light.  Suffice it to say, this is not a happy movie.

A decorated undercover cop named Michael Calvess (Van Sprang) has been found murdered.  With few leads and no witnesses, the cops turn to a disgraced cop named Nick Tellis (Patric) in a last-ditch effort to find the truth as quickly as possible to avoid any bad press.  They choose Tellis because he too was an undercover narcotics officer.  Tellis works with Calvess’s old partner, Henry Oak (Liotta), who is also a decorated cop, but he has a hair-trigger temper and there is evidence that he may not be particularly stable.  But the deeper they get into the investigation, the more likely that the task of escaping with their lives isn’t the worst possible fate.

There are two things that really matter in this film: Jason Patric and Ray Liotta.  The whole film revolves around them (Patric especially).  Sure there’s a plot, but this is as much a psychological thriller as it is a cop movie.  Liotta, is as always, a force to be reckoned with.  Although primarily known for frothing at the mouth, Liotta is at his best when he’s quiet and self-contained.  Less impressive is Jason Patric.  Patric has always been a low-key character actor (which begs the question who in the right mind hired him to star in “Speed 2,” since his miscasting was the main reason that movie was so reviled, but never mind).  When Patric is talking, he’s good, but a lot of the film depends on him non-vocally expressing his fragile state of mind.  Unfortunately, that is not something that Patric excels at, and as a result, we don’t get as sucked into the story as writer-director Joe Carnahan probably intends.

The second problem is that Carnahan gets a little too artsy with his “CSI”-like flashbacks that he inserts into the film so quickly that you might miss them.  It ruins the carefully built, brooding atmosphere that Carnahan wants, and they’re intrusive as often as they are helpful.  Worse, they cause the film’s storyline to struggle to make sense.

To be sure, the film does a few things right.  The most noticeable thing that one notices about the movie is its atmosphere.  As lensed by Alex Nepomniaschy, this is a relentlessly grim movie.  In a way, it’s almost good that the film isn’t so involving because if it was, it would venture into “Once Were Warriors” territory (not that that’s a bad thing, but still).

Lest I come across as too harsh on the film, I will say that it is entirely watchable, and it does get going towards the end.  The storyline is interesting, and I was never particularly bored.  Still, I can’t really recommend it.