ViewGuide

Created Nov 05, 2008 09:02AM PST • Edited Nov 05, 2008 09:02AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   A bruising and noir-infused view of contemporary L.A. cops, “Street Kings” is like “L.A. Confidential” but in the modern day and with Keanu Reeves, and it’s not a patch on “Confidential” but is still an entertaining movie.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   Keanu is the star here, and his acting is, well, alright. What makes the film better is the support, Forest Whitaker, Terry Crews, Hugh Laurie, Common, Chris Evans, The Game and Cedric the Entertainer adding a mixture of class and realism to their roles, and helping to push past the (quite honestly) weak Reeves.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

   Keanu Reeves can be the star of a film; we all know that. But here it’s like it’s the first movie he’s ever starred in, and you find yourself wondering why he’s been held in such esteem as an actor! His character Tom Ludlow is a disassociated and anti-social freak though, so I’m guessing that he’s tailored the performance a little that way. Still, it isn’t his best role.

   Forest Whitaker is great though. The man sounds like Denzel here, and his chief cop character Wander exudes control and a sense of his own self-satisfaction throughout, shades of Idi Amin coming through in Whitaker’s performance.

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

   The two women in the film, Naomi Harris (best known from “28 Days Later” and “Pirates of the Carribean”) and Martha Higareda are side characters. Nothing more is given to them to do like Kim Basinger had in “Confidential”, and this takes away from their placing in the film. But then the story does focus on the men, and so this is probably a good indication of why they are sidelined for most of the narrative

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

   There are none, but I’ve raised the indicator to keep the score normal.

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

   Hugh Laurie leads the pack with Chris Evans here, the British actor in particular adding a bit of class to the proceedings as an internal affairs chief after Reeves’ character. Evans plays an ally of Ludlow, and the young American actor does a little to erase the horrors of “Fantastic Four” here. Terry Crews ably presents himself as the character on which the narrative swings, his former friend to Reeves’ Ludlow an antagonistic fellow cop. The rappers mentioned above provide roles of the street guys that the cops either go after or work with, and as they’ve pretty much been pushed into these roles, the two (Common and The Game) do alright with what they’re given.

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Having written other L.A.-based crime dramas “Harsh Times” and “Dark Blue”, David Ayer seems a great choice to have as director, and to get the writer of “L.A. Confidential” and “The Black Dahlia” to write the script is a masterstroke, elevating the story from where it could have been to give a great vision of the corrupt Los Angeles police department.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

    David Ayer presents L.A. and its cops as harsh, gritty and distinctly urbane, as opposed to other crime films that make it clear the cops are not at all integrated into their city. As such, the film is ably directed, and the director seems very familiar with the city at large; one of the directors who seems most capable of presenting it as accurately.

12. Play Very Good 3.5

    With James Ellroy as the writer, “Street Kings” was onto a winner before it went into production, and merging both Ayers and his visions of Los Angeles was a masterstroke. They’ll destroy your faith in L.A. cops, sure, but their conversations, slang and the way that the plot so meticulously unravels are Ellroy at his best, and the film is the better for his input.

13. Music OK 2.5

    This was almost like blaring horns throughout; perhaps reflecting the characters and their perceived treachery at all turns. Whilst not really a functional soundtrack as such, the music (as it is) does background the action quite well throughout, though it’s nothing special.

14. Visuals Good 3.0

    L.A. in all its gritty, conurbation goodness is cleanly and slickly presented here by Ayer, and with his previous two films being set in the same city dealing with cops, he must be quite familiar with the environment, as the city becomes a part of the movie’s intricacies in plot, jumping from location to location. The gunfights are quick, authentic and violent, and as such appear more realistic than in many other crime movies.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.1

    There’s plenty of violence and profanity, but not much, if any, sex at all.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

    Not that I can remember. This film doesn’t really have time for it!

18. Violence Brutal 2.7

    There are some quite crushing gunfights here, and it certainly pulls no punches in regards to showing the viewer what happens when bullets hit flesh.

19. Rudeness Profane 2.7

    Everyone swears, all the time. An Ellroy film through and through honestly!

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    The high-concept ideas of corruption and secret units in the police departments are probably not too far from the truth in many regards, and nothing happens here that couldn’t happen in real life.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0