The Rocket

Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: MCT Campus Keanu Reeves provides a strong performance in "Street Kings," which is about a police officer who breaks the law in order to do good. [Click to enlarge]

"Street Kings" doesn't score any points for originality, as it fits firmly within its genre. Sometimes, though, it's OK to be a genre picture-as long as you do it well. And that's exactly what "Street Kings" does.

The movie begins with an alarm clock blaring. Detective Tom Ludlow, played by Keanu Reeves ("The Matrix," "The Lake House") rolls over and slams his hand down on the alarm clock. The opening reminded me of the beginning of "The Matrix." I began to wonder if Reeves was going to deliver another one of his performances in which he barely speaks above a whisper and portrays the same type of character. I really like Reeves as an actor, but I've always thought that he doesn't generally show much range in his acting ability.

But that would be the last time I questioned whether Reeves was going to deliver the same kind of performance once again. As soon as Reeves wakes up, he reaches onto his nightstand and grabs a small bottle of vodka, twists open the top and gulps it down. Maybe I'm reading too much into that moment, but I felt I at that moment that I understood his character. I knew that he must be in pain and felt the need to escape. It was a brilliant character development moment.

As the movie gets going, we begin to realize that Detective Ludlow isn't a good cop. He also isn't a bad cop, for he desires justice, but he isn't someone who likes to follow the rules. In an early scene where he's rescuing some missing children, he kicks down the door and starts shooting. After everyone in the house is dead, he plants evidence to make it look as if they fired first.

At this point I had some conflicting feelings. Tampering with evidence and firing upon people without giving them a chance to turn themselves in obviously isn't good, but he did rescue the children. "Street Kings" is interesting in this way, as it provides viewers with many moral dilemmas and leaving them wondering if there are circumstances in which the rules simply must be broken.

"Street Kings" gains complexity when Ludlow follows Detective Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) to a convenience store. The two used to be partners, and Ludlow thinks that Washington is talking to the police chief trying to get him fired. Before entering the store, Ludlow notices that two men with bandanas tied around their faces pull into the parking lot. He runs inside to warn Washington, but when Washington sees him running into the store, he assumes Ludlow's there to hurt or kill him. The scene ends with the two robbers mowing down Washington, riddling his body with bullets.

At this point, the pieces don't really seem to go together. Ludlow starts to suspect that something is going on and that things might not be as simple as a robbery gone wrong.

The cast for this movie is fantastic, and Reeves acts with an intensity that I haven't seen in him since "The Gift." The other major surprise in the cast is comedian Jay Mohr ("Pay It Forward," "Small Soldiers") who really breaks away from his generally silly demeanor.

All in all, "Street Kings" was a wonderful experience at the cinema, though it does have a cringe-inducing amount of profanity. It contains more 100 uses of the F-word. It isn't a movie that I could freely recommend because of this, but it is an excellent film, so I guess that's just another moral dilemma presented to viewers of this movie.

RENTAL PICK

This week a movie showed up in my mailbox that I had forgotten was on my Blockbuster Online queue. The movie, "Moonlight Mile," is a wonderful one. Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman play grieving parents whose daughter was murdered. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the fiancé of the murdered woman. The cast gives stellar performances in this poignant and captivating drama.

Brian McCumsey is a junior history major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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