Dark Blue [DVD] [2003]

 

 

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When I hired this film out I wasn't sure what to expect, i'd heard mixed reviews about it. It was entirley Kurt Russell that attracted me to this film. In my opinion he is a fine actor deserving of more credit. This film is basically about a bad cop (Kurt Russell) who leads a rookie cop down the wrong path into corruption. He seems quite willing to kill a bad guy with no trial and no paperwork. Other people higher in the ranks push him into doing some dodgy things which in the end wreck his life. It will take you a while to get to know the characters. To begin with they seem unlikeable and one dimensional, but as the film progresses you see that the two leading characters do indeed have a concious. Kurt gradually throughout the film shows that the character isn't quite what you thought he was. He knows what he's doing is wrong and with the unfortunate incident at the end realises he has had enough and decides to do the right thing.

Overall this is a very good film. The story is very similair to Training Day but in my opinion Kurt's performance is better. His acting is superb. He manages to make the climax emotional but doesn't over act at any point in the film. His character is completely beleivable. I also liked the rest of the cast. Ving Rhames was a great choice for the role as deputy chief. Scott Speedman also done a great job as Kurt's partner.

This film follows the fortunes of a pair of 'dirty' cops.
Both cops on the surface appear to be the sort of good looking, maverick, gung-ho cops we like to see in movies. This is not a 'Lethal weapon' movie. Its a gritty down to earth cops tale.

The cops have apparently drifted into a path of conduct where a certain level of institutional corruption appears to be accepted and tolerated. They don't try to profit from events themselves but are guilty of bending the rules to satisfy their superiors orders. This involves the far worse crimes of framing and murder.

The two cops very similar to the Russell Crowe character in 'L.A. Confidential'. They are uncomfortable with the morality of what they are doing but accept it as the way it has always been. You can't but help want them to come out on top but you also want them to redeem themselves or turn their backs on the corruption.

The events take place in L.A. just before and during the riots triggered by the real life equital of a group of cops who were filmed beating a black suspect in the early 90's. These events add an extra level of credibility to the film.

The film is a little gem in that I had no previous conceptions about it beforehand. It has received little or no publicity and hype. It's therefore a film you can watch without having any idea how it will end.

It is well acted and well plotted. There have been quite a few corrupt Cop films recently but with the exception of 'L.A. Confidential', I would class this as one of the best. The story is clear and well executed but conventional. It gets the message across without going to seedy or confusing like the 'Bad Lieutenant' or 'Training Day'.

Kurt Russell is one of those actors that has been making pretty good films for ages without ever quite getting into the 'A' division. In my opinion 'Dark Blue'is in the 'Tombstone' and 'Executive Decision' league of the Kurt Russell filmography.
If you liked 'L.A. Confidential', you will like this film.

Dark Blue is directed by Ron Shelton and written by David Ayer from a story by James Ellroy. It stars Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Michael Michele, Brendan Gleeson and Ving Rhames. Story is set in the run up to the Rodney King ignited riots in Los Angeles. LAPD officer Eldon Perry (Russell) is as tough as they come, he believes that it's ok to bend the rules if it means putting a bad guy away. But bending rules leaves a trail, a trail that leads to more corrupt cops than himself. So as he and his fresh faced partner Bobby Keough (Speedman) continue to come under intense suspicion from Assistant Chief Arthur Holland (Rhames), Perry's life is suddenly at risk; just as the city is about to explode.

It's been said many times before, so I'll get it out of the way now. Dark Blue is very similar to Training Day (2001), the dirty cop based movie that bagged Denzel Washington another Oscar. What is forgotten or not known, is that Dark Blue was shot before Training Day. Written by the same writer, Ayer, Dark Blue sat on the shelf for nearly three years at studio HQ whilst the suits wondered what to do with the film. Of course, dirty cop film's have been many over the years, but both this and Denzel's movie are from the upper echelon's of the crime sub-genre, it wouldn't have hurt to have had two similar film's out in a short space of time, how many times have we seen it happen before? What it amounts to in the grand scheme of things for Dark Blue, is that it's unfairly seen as the inferior copy of Training Day. Wrong, because Dark Blue is the better movie.

Opening with the infamous camcorder footage of white coppers beating the tar out of motorist Rodney King, Dark Blue sets a gritty tone from the off. From here we find our characters thrust into a city on the edge of chaos, chaos fuelled by the lead character of the piece. The link between Eldon Perry and the impending riots is key, Perry might not have been one of the actual coppers who lay down that beating on King, but it's his actions, and how he enforces the law, that forms the basis of badness that is inherent in this particular police force. The smart thing here in Ayer and Ellroy's story is that Perry is not a loose cannon egotist, he's a measured third generation cop, following in family footsteps and adhering to management policy above him. His family life is also very revealing, the makers including this arc in the film proves to be a very good move.

Along side him is young Bobby, desperate to get on and be a name in the force, he's troubled greatly by Perry's (and his superiors) way of doing things. But is this the way it should be? Bad guys are bad guys, right? It's a neat vein in the narrative thread, one cop who presumes he's right in his actions, the other who hopes that his partner is right in his actions. Pitted against them is the restrained Assistant Chief Arthur Holland, driven by good, but tainted by a past indiscretion, he casts an imposing shadow over the corruption he knows exists around him. They are all well drawn characters, and with a punchy script at work, there's an air of authenticity about the movie. It may be treading a well worn genre path in basis, but it rises above most others because it doesn't soft soap its subject.

That it works so well is primarily down to a towering performance from Russell. Playing Perry as fearsome and loathsome, Russell doesn't call for any sympathy: that is until he's asked to by the nature of the story. It's only after the film has finished that you realise he's given a three tiered turn, each one as believable as it is magnetic. Unfortunately Speedman is just too wet, underplaying it too much alongside Russell to the point that when he's called on for some dramatic thrust it comes off as second rate. Rhames is wonderfully sedate, while Gleeson (as always) holds his scenes with an assuredness, a presence, that few newer actors can match. Kudos, too, to Lolita Davidovich as Perry's wife, Sally. In a film that's thriving on machoness and violence, Davidovich brings a tenderness to her scenes with Russell, and it never once feels out of place.

With a stronger story than Training Day, and arguably a better lead performance, Dark Blue deserves more respect and a bigger audience. It has the odd problem, such as the afore mentioned Speedman and the inevitable contrivances entering the home straight, but this is a tough nitty gritty thriller that's recommended with confidence to adult cinema fans. 8/10

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2.0 out of 5 stars unnecessary and hardly credible
This is the usual story: a bad detective that is used by a corrupted boss, who plots a shop robbery through criminals for money. Read more

Published 5 months ago by F. Panin

4.0 out of 5 stars Shades Of Training Day In Theme But Not In Style.....
Caught this last night on TV. An excellent, 2003 urban thriller which uses the real life events of L.A. 1992 as a background for a hard hitting movie. Read more

Published on 31 May 2008 by Adam Jackson

2.0 out of 5 stars The pits
As a resident of the Greater Los Angeles area, I'll be the first to say that LA isn't the most salubrious place to live. Read more

Published on 23 Nov 2003 by Joseph Haschka

1.0 out of 5 stars Inept Thriller
DARK BLUE stars Kurt Russell as Eldon Perry, a corrupt LA cop who is also pretty racist. The movie is set in 1992, during the first Rodney King trial, and LA cops are feeling the... Read more

Published on 10 Sep 2003 by Westley

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