Street Kings Movie Review

Street Kings (2008)

Rent Street Kings on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: James Ellroy and Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Moss (screenplay), James Ellroy (story)
Directed by: David Ayer
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Cedric the Entertainer, Jay Mohr, Terry Crews, Naomie Harris, Common, Amaury Nolasco
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
An undercover cop, disillusioned by the death of his wife, is implicated in the murder of an officer and must struggle to clear himself.

Verdict
The story does just enough to keep you interested. This is the often replicated story of the cop that breaks the law to get the bad guys. Keanu is serviceable in this, but it's a shallow story that employs the typical tropes when dealing with dirty cops. The end goal being money and power is too general and thus boring. It's too cookie cutter.
Skip it.

Review
The dialog free opening to this is all questions. Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) seems like he's into some kind of trouble, or is trouble. Ludlow is a cop that operates on the philosophy that the ends justify the means. It's revealed that he's cop right before he goes on a solo take no prisoners raid on a house. I doubt this is the first time he's planted evidence. It's clear that Ludlow is dirty, reckless, and an alcoholic.

Keanu Reeves plays Tom Ludlow

Captain Wander (Forest Whitaker) protects Ludlow because Ludlow gets results. The other guys in the unit may be skeptical or even jealous of Ludlow, but I doubt this unit follows the letter of the law. As long as a cop gets results without too much bad PR, they'll stay on the street.

For a guy already being investigated by Internal Affairs, Ludlow's former partner Washington (Terry Crews) getting killed doesn't help. Ludlow is out to find the truth. I get Ludlow has a code, but he doesn't even like his old partner. Now he's out to solve the case no matter what. We've been told Ludlow is a missile. Point him in a direction and he won't stop until he reaches his target. It still seems like a stretch he'd be this adamant about the case. All the cops in his unit seem to be dirty, so Ludlow can't trust anyone. He works his way through this case person by person.

Keanu Reeves, Chris Evans play Tom Ludlow, Paul Diskant

This story could be so much more. It's the typical story with dirty cops, and this does nothing groundbreaking. It's just interesting and has just enough action to keep you engaged. I wish this got more specific instead of the top villain wanting money and power. These characters need personal motivations. Ludlow seems to be living rough, but the movie is too preoccupied by action to examine that. While giving us a cop where the ends justify the means keeps the plot moving, you wonder how much he'd really care about the ex partner he hates. Some movies have a plot where all the pieces fit together well. This is a plot constructed from the pieces typically used in these types of movies. Why do these characters act as they do? Because that's what happens in other cop movies. Instead of creating a cohesive story, this just throws in pieces to get to the next scene.