At one point, there was a question asked to Keenau Reeves. It was are there any good cops left? I think that summed up the movie.
In this case, I guess we can thank James Ellroy and Joseph Wambaugh for Street Kings. The producers say since Ellroy and Wambaugh are big hits that we can continue to create the same formula right from the beginning just like LA Confidential.
The movie opens with Reeves talking to some Korean men. He’s trying to make a deal with them to sell them guns and of course, he’s speaking Japanese. They ask him if he is a raciast and of course, he says what’s the difference. Then later on, his former partner, who is African-American, talks to him and again, Reeves character jokes that he is a raciast.
In any case, Reeves gets beaten up by the group but that was the whole idea. After all, it’s not like they’re going to kill him. Then he follows them back to their hideout and goes in, guns ablazing, killing all the men in order to find two missing children who these men are holding captive. Of course, we don’t know how Reeves knew all this but that’s okay, the movie goes on, with one cop laughing and sayng that’s sacred because Reeves shot one of the men while he was going to the bathroom.
From there, the plot moves to Reeves former partner, who is in Internal Affairs and he’s after Reeves. Reeves is angry and follows him to a grocery store where his plan is to punch the man in the mouth with a belt that is tied to his fist. Those plans fail when he sees two gangbangers come in to shoot his partner. Again, Reeves plays the corrupted cop by taking the DVD recording from the maching in front of his boss - Forest Whittaker - so he won’t be implicated in the shooting.
The movie moves along as Reeves wants to find the men who killed his former partner. That leads to more gunfights and surprises as the tention builds, making you wonder if Reeves is going to come out of this alive.
In many ways, the movie is no different than LA Confidential since it’s a constant battle between cops and cops. Yes, the movie is unpredictable but it seems ridiculous as well. With all that said, I can only give this movie three stars.
Ron Hummer
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