Street Kings

 2/4

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Chris Evans, Forest Whitaker, Cedric the Entertainer, Hugh Laurie, Terry Crews, Naomie Harris

Rated R for Strong Violence and Pervasive Language

"Street Kings" is one of those movies you start forgetting as soon as the end credits roll.  It's too good to be bad and too bad to be good.  It moves, is somewhat involving and contains enough action to keep viewers from going to sleep, but I'll be very impressed with myself if I can remember much of it in a week's time.

Detective Tom Ludlow (Reeves) is a bad cop.  He throws back vodka shooters in the car, he is as profane as a cop can be, and willingly murders anyone he considers a "bad guy."  The only reason he still has a badge and is not in jail is because his superior, Captain Jack Wander (Whittaker) is on hand to clean up his messes.  Now, Lud has something new to worry about: an internal affairs officer named Briggs (Laurie) is itching to put him away, and his ex-partner Washington (Crews) is snitching on him.  After tracking him down to teach him a lesson, Washington is murdered in a robbery gone bad.  Wander tells him to ignore it, but Lud's suspicions are raised and he can't let it go.

This is a cop movie formula as old as the hills.  That wouldn't bother me at all if it was told well.  Sadly it isn't.  An all-star cast and cop movie veterans James Ellroy (the Ernest Hemingway of police corruption thrillers) and "Training Day" director David Ayer can't save a screenplay that is this confused.  In broad strokes the film's story is simple, but it goes off on so many tangents and has so much cop lingo and double talk that I was left more confused than entertained.

Keanu Reeves is generally a better actor than people give him credit for.  Only a solid actor would be able to play both Ted Theodore Logan and Neo.  But like everyone not named Meryl Streep, his range is limited.  He does a solid job as a man who is a drunk, a cop and a killer.  But he lacks the edge to really sell it.  Chris Evans is better as the newbie, bringing a spine that Reeves lacks.  Hugh Laurie appears as a variation of Dr. House.  Everyone else is fine, including an underused Naomie Harris and comedian Cedric the Entertainer in a straight role as Scribble.

"Street Kings" takes no chances.  Sure, it's violent, gritty and profane, but so what?  So are dozens of other cops movies.  I knew from the first minute who the villains were, and the journey to get there wasn't especially interesting.  You'd think that a screenplay that was in development for ten or more years would have had something the audience hadn't seen before many, many times, but no.  The only thing about this movie that is different is the cast.

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