Police corruption is roasted over an open fire in "Street Kings," the
latest motion picture to look into the black heart of the LAPD and come
out confused, covered in blood, and gasping for air. Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is a burned-out, alcoholic vice cop who
specializes in bending the law to suit his crime-solving needs. Under
the care of Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), Tom's sins have been
covered up for years, keeping him tight with his fellow officers
(including Jay Mohr and John Corbett) and allowing him a lawless
existence that's turned into a prison. Now, when his former partner-turned-informant (Terry Crews) is killed in a vicious
convenience store attack, it instills Tom with a newfound twitch of
moral fortitude, and he sets off to hunt for the killers with the help
of a young detective (Chris Evans) who's eager to partake in a
clandestine investigation. The screenplay, credited to three writers including the great
James Ellroy, is a juicy selection of intrigue and paranoia, placing
Tom in the middle of a tornado of evidence tampering, the attention of
internal affairs, and his own self-loathing, which has thickened his
skin to such a degree that he barely comprehends injustice anymore. The
script is ripe with tongue-twisting dialogue and rotating motivations,
and it's too much for Ayer to handle at times. Outside of the fact that
giving Reeves platefuls of complex technical language is a mistake
(he's a fine actor, but needs to be wielded carefully or his
limitations are revealed quickly), "Kings" doesn't know how to unwind
itself; it prefers an excruciating "Bond villain" explanation in the
third act to untangle the complex plot, severely undercutting the
labyrinthine structure of the earlier scenes. By the end of "Kings," Ayer hands the material over to operatic
sways of spastic melodramatic acting (I think Whitaker is convinced
he's in a silent film) and semi-believable turns of logic. The network
of corruption that "Kings" itemizes is compelling groundwork for
something more intellectually explosive than the action film clichés of
the final stretch, and the film loses much of its zest when Ayer
scrounges for an ending that can both satisfy and stimulate. SOURCE OF THIS STORY