Dark Blue
Set in Los Angeles in April 1992 when four white police officers, accused of beating black motorist Rodney King, were acquitted and the subsequent riots as a result that verdict. Against this background of racially charged violence and crime, the L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Section is charged with investigating a particularly ruthless robbery homicide and...
Set in Los Angeles in April 1992 when four white police officers, accused of beating black motorist Rodney King, were acquitted and the subsequent riots as a result that verdict. Against this background of racially charged violence and crime, the L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Section is charged with investigating a particularly ruthless robbery homicide and working the case is seasoned detective Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) and his partner Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman).
As Perry, a third generation "bad" cop, teaches rookie Keough the realities of the SIS tactics of intimidation and corruption, where the end justifies any means, his hot-headed street methods come under the scrutiny of Assistant Chief Holland (Ving Rhames) who threatens to end the SIS brand of justice. While tracking down the killers among the riot torn streets of L.A., Perry must also face his own inner demons, a disintegrating marriage, investigation by Holland and either defend or change his way of life and suffer the consequences of either choice.
Review
Setting the movie against a the true historical event of the Rodney King trial and the subsequent L.A. riots is a touch of genius as the audience can immediately connect with the story, especially as it starts with some of the real footage of the beating. Unlike most cop movies where the cops are simply trying to solve the crime and arrest the felons, this delves into the world of police corruption and it does a very good job of it. The script, adapted by David Ayer (Training day) from an original story by James Ellroy, is cracking.
Director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, Tin Cup) does an effective job of recreating the atmosphere of tension and violence of the time and the other plus point that carries the film up a level is the strong lead cast of Kurt Russell, Ving Rhames and Brendan Gleeson. Russell shows he's still got what it takes and gives one of his best performances to date as the tough but troubled Perry and Ving Rhames and Brendan Gleeson give the solid kind of performance you'd expect from such veterans of the screen. Scott Speedman (Underworld) gives a good showing as the new guy caught in the middle between bad cops and good cops and Michael Michelle is good as one of those good cops. Rapper Kurupt and Dash Mihok turn in good performances as the killers.
The video is presented in anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1. Colours are good and blacks are pretty solid but the film has a bit of a gritty appearance and, while that may well have been intentional, the transfer is no more than reasonable for such a recently made film. Audio is available in either Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Stereo. The dialogue is clear throughout and the 5.1 track makes reasonable use of rear channels for ambient sounds such street noise and the already mentioned riots.
The film, only released in the UK this summer, suffered poor box-office results both here and in the U.S., which is a pity and surely due to poor marketing by the studios as it is well worth seeing and should have done much better. Still that's also probably why it's gone so quickly to DVD so if you like cop movies, then you'll love this one.
Extras
Commentary - Director Ron Shelton does a reasonable job here and imparts some interesting information throughout the movie.
Internal Affairs - A pretty good trio of featurettes, lasting just over 30 minutes in total, on the making of the movie…- Code Blue - An interesting 18 minute "Making Of" featurette. The cast and some of the crew talk about their thoughts when they heard the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King trial and the riots that ensued from that. There's also some useful input from the production team on how the script was developed. There's also some information on locations and sets used.
- By The Book - Seven minutes on creating sets, finding locations, shooting the riot scenes and costume design.
- Necessary Force - Bob Souza, ex L.A.P.D. homicide and the technical adviser on the movie talks about the real SIS and his role in training the actors to perform accurately and Ron Shelton adds his comments. Last seven minutes.
Trailer - A two-minute theatrical trailer.
Gallery - Twenty-four click through stills, some behind the scenes. As usual with picture galleries, there's nothing of real quality or interest here.
TV Spot - A less than 20 seconds teaser.
The Fire Next Time - A hidden three-minute featurette, where the cast and crew talk about the likelihood and reasons for a similar riot occurring in the future. I expect it's an easter egg and I've seen the mechanism to activate it on the region 1 version but I can't see how to do that on the region 2 version other than by searching for Title 7.
Overall
Dark Blue is an entertaining, realistically gritty cop movie set against a real piece of history that I'm sure the L.A.P.D. would rather consign to the archives forever. With its reasonably good extra package of commentary and featurettes, it makes a decent evenings viewing. It’s maybe not one for buying unless you're a Kurt Russell fan, but definitely worth renting.
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