With Keanu Reeves in the lead, a movie can vary widely anywhere on the scale from the first “Matrix” to “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.” Offering vacant facial expressions but some physical intensity as a vice cop in trouble, the inconsistent Hollywood survivor is not a total washout in “Street Kings,” which, for more basic reasons, turns out to be a royal disappointment.
It boasts good credentials for a Los Angeles police corruption thriller with “Training Day” scribe David Ayer as director and “L.A. Confidential” novelist James Ellroy as its chief co-writer. But dashing expectations, given this level of storytelling expertise on the topic, their contemporary urban expose builds from a specious premise, culminates in cliches, and comes off as a mere rip-off of the FX cable television channel’s “The Shield.”
As if to remind us of that far superior small-screen depiction of the LAPD.’s dark side, Forest Whitaker (a previous stalwart of the series) is the best thing about “Street Kings.”
With convincing blue-collar inflections and a take-no-prisoners toughness, Whitaker’s Captain Jack Wander appears to be a champion of the hard-core enforcer on his special unit vice squad. Wander covers up for the functionally alcoholic detective Tom Ludlow (Reeves), who believes that the ends justify the rule-breaking means if he “neutralizes” the villains who terrorize the ’hood.
But who are the real criminals, the drug-dealing/raping/murdering felons or the power-mad cops who commit some of the same acts in the process of busting them?
That old question comes up again here when Tom’s ex-partner is shot down right after ratting him out to internal affairs honcho Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie). Even though the former partner betrayed him and he could be implicated in the killing if he doesn’t let it drop, Tom defies logic (to serve a contrived movie plot) and tries to get to the bottom of the murder. The audience knows right away who is behind it even if the annoyingly clueless anti-hero protagonist does not.
The proceedings get energized by harrowing scenes of vicious gunplay and a convincingly shady menagerie of supporting players, including Jay Mohr and “Sex and the City’s” John Corbett as bad cops with rappers Common and The Game along with Cedric The Entertainer as crooks. But there’s no “Street” cred in a weak script.
‘Street Kings’
Two Stars
» Starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Common
» Director: David Ayer
» Rated R for strong violence and pervasive language
» Running time: 108 minutes
