“Street Kings” is basically “Dark Blue” with a weak lead, a better villain, and predictable story-structure. I expected better from James Ellroy (“L.A. Confidential”), who wrote both movies, but he can’t be blamed since his original script was rewritten by director David Ayer (“Harsh Times”) and Kurt Wimmer (“Equilibrium”). Much like “Equilibrium,” the story is preposterously derivative, though somewhat intriguing and very entertaining.
The movie is wrought with one cliché after another. It starts with Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) waking up and looking at himself in a mirror. (When are they going to stop with the damn mirrors?) He deals with the now-fashionable Asian-American gangsters, who turn out to be child-rapists. We continue into this “complex” plot about police corruption, in which Captain Wander (Forest Whitaker) has to cover for Tom’s activities, which eventually involves the murder of Tom’s former partner (Terry Crews). Tom loses credibility as he hunts for the killers with the help of a rookie (Chris Evans), who hasn’t proven himself yet as a gunfighter. I’ve named at least five clichés so far.
Keanu Reeves is a puzzling actor. All the emotions are there, but his speech is perpetually corny. This makes it impossible to take him seriously as a detective. His unmistakable Asian-ancestry is also a factor, when he has to shake down Korean gangsters with bigotry. (They respond by calling him a “white boy.”) If the role didn’t require him to talk, Reeves would be fine. But this is a James Ellroy movie, and there’s no way around having the main character sum up everything at the end.
The bit parts from Common and the Game are surprisingly the most convincing while Tom’s corrupt sidekicks are played too obviously. Hugh Laurie’s role as Captain Biggs felt bland and lacking, as though he was originally written to be the main character, but was set aside for the purposes of action. He’s like Dr. House with two legs, a badge, and five minutes of screentime. Whitaker’s role is similar to Idi Amin with Denzel Washington’s accent from “Training Day.” He speaks with a sort of inspiring yet disillusioned superiority. “What ever happened to just putting away bad people?” asks Tom. Wander responds: “We’re all bad, Tom.”
Ironically, there is no real need for Ellroy’s trademark summations, since you can figure out where everything’s going five minutes in. The twists are digested with a sort of “duh” attitude. The sneaking suspicion that Captain Wander is behind everything persists throughout the experience. Characters are left without an encore, notably the women, and the ending hangs open like an exit-wound. The positives are in the action sequences and Whitaker’s sermons of corruption, though the latter doesn’t measure up to his Academy Award-Winning performance. It’s not worth $8 at the cinema, and you’re better off watching one of Ellroy’s other films.
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