Release Date: February 21, 2003
Starring: Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Ving Rhames, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Michele
Directed by: Ron Shelton
Written by: David Ayer
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
MPAA Rating: R (violence, language, brief sexuality)
The script for Dark Blue was written by David Ayer, who also wrote Training Day and The Fast and the Furious, and it’s based on a story written by James Ellroy, the author who wrote the acclaimed novel L.A. Confidential. All of those films happen to involve stories of police corruption, and on the surface Dark Blue is a combination of elements from each. But as promising as it sounds -- a cop film that mixes the brutal reality of Training Day, the coniving wit of L.A. Confidential, and the testosterone of The Fast and the Furious -- this attempt at the smorgasboard approach fails miserably.
It’s not as though director Ron Shelton is familiar with classy filmmaking, however, having directed crude sports comedies like Play It to the Bone and White Men Can’t Jump. Unlike those films, Dark Blue is a drama (something else he’s not accustomed to) but he still doesn’t do enough to offset this film’s subpar writing and transparent acting.
The story is set around the time of the aquittal of the Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King, which was announced and led to deadly protest on April 29, 1992. Five days prior to that eventful day, Sgt. Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) and his partner Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) of the LAPD are assigned to investigate a robbery/quadruple murder. Throughout the case, the two officers are under the thumb of their crooked superior, Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson). Perry and the young Keough are no angels themselves, however, as they typically don’t hesitate to use deadly force in their investigation, not to do everything their devious boss orders. Eventually the the two officers begin to second-guess their unscrupulous tactics, while the deputy chief of police (Ving Rhames) starts his own investigation inside the department and one of the worst riots in U.S. history looms over the horizon.
Though it may not sound like it, from the film’s bloody opening crime spree to the chaotic riot in the finale, there is little excitement in the story whatosever. The script jumps from one mediocre scene to the next with shoddy dialogue and weak plot development that’s comparable to an average episode of TV's “NYPD Blue.” One or two moments with Kurt Russell and his partner chasing clues are mildly interesting, but most are outright tedious. This is especially true, for example, when they go through the mundane elements of cop movies, like procuring an illigitimate search warrant or sharing the typical man-to-man police partner talks. In any other cop movie these would be at least moderately entertaining, or the glue that holds the more exciting scenes together. Here, they're neither.
Even a crucial scene involving the SWAT team, a falsely accused criminal, and a child witness isn’t executed with the proper magnitude, and again it feels more like we’re watching a cheap TV drama than a major motion picture. It doesn't evoke the right amount of tension and it doesn't make us feel sympathy for those who don’t want to be caught up in this unethical mess.
Readers might wonder what the differences between Dark Blue and a cop show on television are, and quite simply, it's Kurt Russell and Ving Rhames. These two actors -- the former playing one of several evil, white cops; the latter being one of a few squeaky-clean black officers -- hardly ever share the screen together, but their peformances are nicely done. Plus, they overshadow the lackluster jobs done by supporting players like Speedman, Gleeson, and Michael Michele.
The problem is, however, that Rhames, one of the only good actors in the mix and the man we’re cheering for the most, has shamefully little screen time. As such an important character, it would have been far more beneficial to the film’s central conflict for the justice-seeking man to have twice as much attention from Ayer’s otherwise lifeless screenplay. By the time the end credits roll, there's very little satisfaction because this character, one of the few good guys in the film, feels like a complete stranger to the rest of the action.
As for Russell, he’s intentionally portrayed as a slimebag, and the veteran actor fits the role just right. But director Shelton and writer Ayer provide him with very few redeemable characteristics. And again, the climactic events of his subplot lack a great deal of satisfaction because of this.
During the finale, the viewer is supposed to applaud Russell’s audacious speech and Rhames’ “long-awaited” victory against corruption, but these things along with the similarly disappointing riot scene are actually prime examples of the film’s shortcomings. Don't be mistaken: Dark Blue is no where near the quality of Training Day or L.A. Confidential, and it’s a crime to even compare them.
-- Andy Zientek (zfilm@earthlink.net)