Street Kings

Synopsis

Veteran LAPD Vice Detective, Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves, The Matrix) bends the rules with the mentality of the ends justifying the means. His supervisor, Captain Wander (Forest Whitaker, Vantage Point), tries to keep Ludlow in line and protect him at all cost from Internal Affairs. When Ludlow's ex-partner is brutally killed, Ludlow goes on an all out crusade teaming up with a young detective, Paul Diskant (Chris Evans, The Nannie Diaries) to find the killers. Through the streets of LA the action thriller is under-way.

Review

Action, grit, violence, crime, loyalties and lack there of, represents the epitome of Street Kings. I feel a little guilty that the negativity that oozed from this movie clinched my attention throughout the feature.

The main character, Tom Ludlow (Reeves) is depressed as they come. With his drunken and dispirited demeanor, he doesn’t just bend the rules; he twists them like a contortionist in a Vegas show of Cirque du Soleil when it comes to catching bad guys. All the while, his superior, Captain Wander (Whitaker) protects Ludlow’s butt from Internal Affairs. He can do no wrong in Wander’s eyes because Ludlow makes his job easier ridding the streets of LA from the unscrupulous crime lords.

Street Kings gets real thick when Ludlow’s ex-partner, Detective Terrance Washington (Terry Crews, Everybody Hates Chris) is viciously gunned down in a convenience store. Ludlow can’t help himself and must get involved. I swear he turns into one of Marvel’s comic book Avengers characters. Against his colleagues’ advice he just goes all out and buck wild. He even gets a hot young detective (Evans) to go criminal catching with him.

This movie has so many shifts, but yet…they are soooo predictable. It’s your typical good cop, bad cop, “I’m in too deep” type of movie. It’s a “Who dunnit?” and a “who can I trust?” type of flick. There’s the typical hoodish looking bad black guys and the oh so pretty-boy looking good white guys in hot pursuit of the ghetto looking black and latino guys. Now come on… this formula is so obvious. They even threw rapper The Game in if you needed even more hoodness (although he doesn't play a real tough guy...kinda gets punked). They might not have been done this juxtaposition on purpose (mmm hmmm), but I certainly noticed. Perhaps people want to see films Hollywoodified if you know what I mean?  

Street Kings is a good movie to rent. No need to see it on the big screen. It is rated R for a reason. There is extreme violence and very BAD language. So if these things mess with your spirit, than you might want to think twice about watching it. If you liked Training Day, written by Street Kings' director David Ayer, then you should like this movie too. Throw it in your Netflix queue. If you don't have Netflix, don't ya think it's about time you get it? Just joking. Do what's going to meet your needs and life style. Street Kings is all about the grit of the street, and while I know there's a lot of bad out there on the corners of our inner cities, I sometimes get tired of seeing it portrayed on the big screen.

My Rating ~ 2 Reels

Average Rating ~ What's Yours?