Movie Review - Street Kings

Director: David Ayer

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans

Co-written by tough American crime writer James Ellroy, Street Kings was always going to be a gritty and brutal portrayal of the seedy side of modern-day LA. And it is just that, a fast-paced excursion through a noir-ish world led by Keanu Reeve’s veteran cop Tom Ludlow. However thrilling the ride might be though, the film does not score a perfect A+ by any means.

Our protagonist is Ludlow, a classic Ellroy anti-hero. Driven but flawed, he is our eyes and ears in this environment where the line between cops and criminals is extremely blurry. After his wife is killed, Ludlow takes on the world with a bottle in one hand and a gun in the other. Our man comes under fire from police corruption investigator Biggs (Hugh Laurie) but is seemingly well protected by his superior Wander (played faultlessly by Forest Whitaker). But in true cop movie fashion he becomes consumed in his pursuit of a pair of killers and the line gets even blurrier.

Street Kings is pretty much a tutorial from MACHO 101; it is heavily geared towards a masculine audience who revels in violence. This may well be its downfall, as it always looks to beef things up with a tense confrontation or the like- as though it is too conscious of its need to be hard-hitting. Action is frequent and so is Keanu’s screen time, he is in almost every scene. This is not necessarily a bad thing as he gives a strong performance, but his character’s obsessive and racist nature can be a little tough to watch for so long. A major pro for the film is its considerable plot twist towards the end which helped to separate it from your run of the mill cop flick. Although it is slick and gritty

Street Kings will not go down as a classic of the genre, but it is definitely a solid shot of testosterone if you are in need.