Black Cop

This movie was recommended by my cousin who knows the filmaker but hasn't seen the film yet. Generally we have the same taste in 'movies' so I decided to watch it and I was pleasantly surprised but not disappointed. It is one of the few films that I have seen that I have really considered the layers to the plot, the characters and the message. In this case, the filmaker, instead of presenting a clear message, he presents varying points of view and allows the viewer to interpret and gain their own persepctive. The film introduces us to Black Cop, played by Ronnie Rowe Jr., a cop who is ridiculed and distrusted by the people in his own community and after being racially profiled off-duty, Black Cop reaches a breaking point and we follow a day in his life as he struggles with identity, who to trust, where to belong and the all too often blurred lines between right and wrong. Rowe brings an intensity to the role of Black Cop and the filmakers use of voice over narration allows us to see into the depts of the character and his unique battle as we follow his indignant quest for retribution through anywhere streets in an anywhere city. Black Cops erratic quest to make things right in his own head while wreaking havoc in the privileged white communities he has sworn to protect forces the viewer to question their own beliefs and racial literacy. I felt like Black Cop was not only believable, he was relatable and Sophia Walker in the supporting role had me question how I would feel and react in her situation. With interesting satire and effects Black Cop does a formidable job at exploring the relationship between african americans and law enforcement in cities everywhere.

I tend to not leave bad reviews but this movie is so grossly bad and has no semblance of reality in it that I had to voice my opinion. You can tell no real research was done and this was just a fantasy of a clueless writer. I couldn't even finish this.

A black police officer starts preying on and abusing white people........

'Black Cop' is an ugly and amateurishly made film. Though Ronnie Rowe is solid in the lead, and his narration, while heavy handed, holds what story there is together, everyone else is a cliche, with every black character innocent, downtrodden and spouting inspirational Democrat Party propaganda, and every white character either openly racist to unbelievable levels in the 21st century or a video game NPC with no reason for existence beyond their skin colour.......

The film is poorly shot and the script is film student-level. The soundtrack is intrusive and distracting, padding out scenes that go on too long with nothing of interest happening onscreen. The speaking direct-to-camera segments are the worst parts, and look like they were filmed on a stage at an acting class rehearsal. I understand that the film was finished with crowdfunding money, so I expect these parts were shot separately, at a later date, and it shows........

Everything that happens after the first half hour is so far-fetched and pointless that any interest in the story collapses: after that it's just watching someone playing a video game, with occasional close-ups of Rowe doing terrible things while looking pained, righteous and noble. And the ending is as preachy and cringe and hamfisted as any Spike Lee joint...........

The victimhood narrative underpinning the movie insists that we live in a society so prejudiced against black people that there is no way for them to succeed, a society in which black voices are shut down at every turn. But the reality is we live in a society in which it's impossible to imagine a movie with this kind of story being made at all if the races were reversed. It's a certainty today that whoever would make such a film would never work again, whereas the writer and director of this one probably only got the funding and support to make this film BECAUSE of his skin colour, and because of the agenda it pushes, which he presumably still believes is edgy and challenging. It's anything but..........

It would be great to see a film made today that deals with racial tensions in an interesting, believable and non-preachy manner. It can be done: Paul Haggis' "Crash" (2004) showed a lot of the same situations as this film, but there every character - black and white - felt believable, and fully rounded, and the aim was an eagle-eye aerial view of society as a whole. The writer and director of this film, Cory Bowles, would be completely incapable of making such a film, as it would require seeing white people as human beings too, with internal lives and interesting, valid reasons for believing the things they believe. They would have to be right sometimes, and the black characters would have to be wrong. That simple, most absolutely basic fact of reality, and morality, (and art) seems utterly beyond his powers or imagination........

There is no art here. No skill. No depth. And very little talent. This 'film' is just a societally-sanctioned racist fantasy that I guess is condoned (and celebrated!) by those with decision-making powers as it is seen as some sort of release valve for the black community, while only driving the races further and further apart. You don't rid society of racism by dividing society up into the 'good' black people and the 'bad' white people and then demanding black and white audiences clap along to white people being beaten up and abused. What kind of nightmarish victimhood-worshipping echo-chamber would you have to be imprisoned in to even think such a thing?.......

What's most disturbing of all is that this is the only kind of film that can be made now about this subject. This deeply divisive, race-baiting opinion is the only opinion. This now is the status quo.

I could barely get through the movie because of the terrible, head banging music. Great storyline. Horrible music.

Cory Bowles's Black Cop is anchored by a fine performance by Ronnie Rowe Jr, as the title character, a cop tipped over the edge by the intrusiveness and shame of his being racially profiled by other cops , whilst off duty. Unfortunately instead of giving us a clean narrative to play out the story, Bowles frequently effectively stops the storytelling, to give us a look inside Black Cop's mind at various junctures, as he breaks the fourth wall and zones off on various rants. It's a really clumsy device which adversely affects what little there is of the story and mightily impacts on the pacing of the film.

We are also burdened with repetition in Black Cop. It is literally filled to the seams with close-ups. Whenever there are conversations, people's faces fill the screen. We are delivered many, many repeats of the same close-ups, the same angles of Black Cop's face on his never-ending car patrols, where he notably always is lacking a partner. I believe his character does state at some point, that it is his choice to do so. Ironically in the few action scenes we get, they are either shot from quite some distance away, or rendered pretty much ineffective by overuse of hand-held cameras.

I really would have liked to have ben invited to share more of Black Cop's story. But that seemed to be almost subordinate in a technically deficient film, where the director/writer couldn't even be bothered in naming any characters, as they played second fiddle to the primary instrument of the main character just ranting to the screen. Sadly, an awkward, poorly made film, where the lead's fine acting is just wasted.