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Why Street Kings is actually a pretty good movie
By Nick Brice
1. The good guy is a bad guy
A slightly racist, unapologetic dirty cop who frames minority suspects, fabricates evidence and drinks while driving. How awesome is that? How un-Hollywood is that? You don't need to be any more realistic than your protagonist beating a suspect with a telephone book for me. The fact that he is actually a corrupt drunk with no respect for the law makes him human, and therefore somewhat sympathetic. He is cut from the same the same moral fabric as Alonzo Harris from Training Day, but without the gambling issues, so imagine a white Alonzo wreaking havoc on the fiends of Los Angeles. 2. Short attention span film-making
There is no wasted time, no padding, no effort to do anything that is not related to advancing the plot. In other words they don't cater to the kiddies and they don't try to make this movie "cool". I am sure there are holes, but if you throw yourself into it and try not to think too much you won't see them, and Ayers makes it easy to do that. It feels edgy and dangerous and grimy like it takes place in a city populated mostly by violent criminals who haven't showered in a month. 3. No games with the action
No cg effects, no slow motion, no faux-John-Woo nonsense as with Wanted. This is an honest-to-goodness grown-up crime movie that requires you to pay attention and in some cases to recall something from 10-20 minutes back. It's not at all a "smart" movie, but it does require that you remember stuff from time to time just so you know what's going on, kind of like a slightly dumber version of The Departed. 4. Forest Whittaker can act
I wouldn't have cast him in this, nothing about Ghost Dog says "police officer" to me, but he pulls it off. He makes a character that most actors would have played as a simple conniving thug into something much bigger, a megalomaniac, like a Bond-villain in a more realistic setting, which was a smart move. He kind of outshines Reeves in the last minutes which makes it seem like a slightly better movie than it really was. 5. You want him to win but you think he might die, but maybe not
This is the kind of movie where they might kill the good guy because he isn't so good. The writers manage to convince you early on that Tom Ludlow is heading to his doom, kind of like Billy Costigan. He is self-destructive and jerk which usually signals death, but he is going up against guys that are worse than him so you want him to live long enough to take them out. The cliches are there, but there aren't enough of them for you to get a solid feel for where they are going with the story. 6. Insignificant love-interest
She was cute, don't get me wrong, but not interesting, and I am tired of the standard recipe for for movie happiness which is to be embroiled in an emotional and sexual relationship by the time the credits roll. Supposedly it means that you are set for life, which perhaps people were naive enough to accept 30 years back, but it should ring hollow now. In fact, it should have been ringing hollow with American audiences for a while now. The good thing here is that the girlfriend character exists in this movie just so we know he isn't gay or a eunuch. 7. Dirty-cop movies are awesome
Seriously, this needs to be an official top-shelf genre, like "Western" or "drama". Hollywood needs to set itself a quota for movies with corrupt policemen. Imagine a protagonist who has to obey no rules, who can shake down or harass members of the citizenry with no fear of repercussions. The reason people like movie heroes is that they are tough where most real-life men would cower, they have the guts stand up to bullies. A corrupt cop, especially one written by James Ellroy is able to shoot the bullies and plant weapons on them to make it a legitimate shooting. That trumps mere guts. 8. Very reminiscent of LA. Confidential
In fact, Reeves' character is essentially the same as Russell Crowe's in that movie (also written by Ellroy) so if Street Kings did not take place in a different era it could almost be considered a sequel. They are both thugs with tempers who love violence. It also has the same complexity and seems geared to people over 20 who know what feels real as opposed to what looks pretty on the screen. Ok, I know that this means it's not original, but Hollywood doesn't remake this genre all that often so it feels relatively original. 9. Action hero from the 80s
Tom Ludlow (Reeves' character) is reminiscent of Martin Riggs, with a little Marion Cobretti thrown in, and both were reminiscent of Dirty Harry, who was an attempt to change the mold of the movie hero to fit the times. Your good guy has to be a little bit nastier, a little bit less honorable to fight monsters like Charles Manson or the Zodiac killer, people Rooster Cogburn and Sam Spade never had to deal with. 10. Keanu Reeves actually perfectly cast
He is wooden and comes across in most of his roles as not being very bright, but you get the feeling that this character isn't very bright either so it works out. Like I said, think Russell Crowe in LA Confidential. Also, on the occasion that the character has to express actual emotion, Reeves actually does a better job than in any movie I have seen him in to date.
This intel first appeared on: http://marsupial.nfshost.com/blog1.php/2008/11/12/why-street-kings-...
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May, 2012
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