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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 04/19/2008 : 23:01:24
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Street Kings
I kept thinking as I watched this Keanu Reeves vehicle limp and stall and stutter its way through the mean streets - this feels like an attempt at a full-color 21st century version of 1940s film noir.
It almost works, but so much keeps pulling off to the hard shoulder as all the vitality disappears in cliche.
Here's an adaptation of yet another James Ellroy let's find the good cop in the corrupt LA haystack and damn if Reeves hasn't even climbed a rung up the acting ladder where, older and bit chubbier, he almost makes you think he might be a grown-up. Never, though, does he make you believe he's a cop. Especially when he's surrounded by such tough motherfuckers it's really hard to tell who's the dirty and who's the clean.
There are some actors whose agents should be handcuffed inside the alligator enclosure at the LA zoo for letting their clients appear in this mediocre, derivative and ultimately silly tale. Prime candidate is Forest Whittaker, and shame on director David Ayer for not having the balls to rein him in. Whittaker is capable of true screen greatness - Bird, Last King of Scotland, etc - but he's also capable of phoning in a performance which usually results in TOO MUCH INTENSITY. But Ayer - who wrote Training Day, another facile though more effective piece - is too concerned with details and can't see the Forest for the trees. [How long have I had to wait to make that joke!   ]
Ellroy's story isn't the real problem - which is one of tone. The best of his stuff like LA Confidential understands that the plot is not the point. It's people we need to latch on to. However intriguing were the mysteries of Sam Spade, we were fascinated by Bogie. And Bacall.
However bad the cops in Street Kings, the film is worse.
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Street Kings
