La notte non aspetta

Here's another movie the critics dismissed that turned out to be a great movie. I was initially hesitant to go see the movie because of the negative reviews, but went to see Forrest Whittaker, Hugh Laurie and Keanu Reeves. I think most critics can't look at Reeves and not see Bill Preston Esq or Neo. However Keanu Reeves shows range in the movie and heads up the movie wonderfully.

This movie is a fast-paced LA Cop movie. It starts off great and never slows down. Money well spent at the Theater, and I'm the kind of guy who'd walk out of a movie that does not engage me. I would watch it again.

An extremely violent thriller about a jaded cop including hair-rising scenes , gruesome crimes and breathtaking chases. This nail-biting thriller packs plot twists, noisy action, pursuits , shootouts, and continuous intrigue .An undercover cop, LAPD detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) , disillusioned by the death of his wife, is implicated in the murder of an officer and must struggle to clear himself. Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) always covers for Ludlow, as do even his somewhat jealous colleagues. Along the way , Tom is confronted by his former partner, Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) . After technically excessive violence against a vicious Korean gang during the liberation of kidnapped child sex slaves, Ludlow becomes the target of hotshot Internal Affairs captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie) , who feels passed-over after Wander's promotion to chief. But some members of the elite task force find themselves being taken down one by one . When Tom is wounded , at the Hospital he's healed by a particular nurse who turns out to be his girlfriend, Grace Garcia (Martha Higareda). Later on , Detective Tom Ludlow meets Detective Paul Diskant (Chris Evans) and both of them join forces to investigate the sinister events. Ludlow works his way through the twisted rungs of the police and the deadly streets of Los Angeles for answers that only lead to more questions. And other cops and members of drug gangs are also gunned down . Their City. Their Rules. No Prisoners.

Nice action film displays action-packed, thrills , fast-paced , shootouts , wild fighting images , police brutality and spectacular chase sequence in South Central . James Ellroy wrote the surprising screenplay in the mid-1990s with the same formula of his previous works and inspired by the O. J. Simpson trial. James Ellroy's script for Street Kings (2008) bears certain resemblance to the screenplays for L. A. Confidential (1997) and Dark Blue (2002) . It's a noir movie whose plot is really complex and twisted , the ordinary issue in which certain law enforcement members suspected of being corrupt who are slain one by one and a deranged cop is given a major murder case by a corrupt commander/supervisor who sends him on a wild goose chase looking for fictional suspects and/or pinning the crime on criminals with prior records, only to learn that his boss is the real culprit. While the film was praised for its acting performances, action sequences, and dark tone, the script was criticized for its clichés about police corruption. Keanu Reeves is nice giving an efficient acting as a ruthlessly efficient, unorthodox undercover cop and haunted by the death of his wife . Keanu even did all of his own stunts in the film with no stunt stand-in. And a fundamental fun is to guess which prestigious , famous actor appears here and there, showing his charm and acting skills, including the following : Hugh Laurie , Chris Evans, Cedric the Entertainer, Jay Mohr, Terry Crews , Naomie Harris, Common , John Corbett, Amaury Nolasco, Michael Monks , Clifton Powell , among otheres.

This bone-chilling motion picture was professionally directed by David Ayer , though it has too much dark scenes , and it was shot in grueling 42 days . Ayer is a prestigious writer and director with successes enough , writing or directing films as : Fury , SWAT , Training day , The Tax Collector , U-571 , Fast and furious saga, Suicide Squad , among others. The film is followed by an inferior sequel, ¨Street Kings 2: Motor city¨ (2011), released direct-to-video in 2011 by Chris Fisher with Ray Liotta , Shawn Hatosy , Scott Norman , Clifton Powell, Kevin Chapman . Rating : 6.5/10 . Decent thriller.

I didn't go into Street Kings expecting a masterpiece, and I didn't get one. What I did expect is what I got, more or less: a competently made corrupt cops drama that throws on some heap-loads of stereotypes (not just racially or ethnically but just movie stereotypes, which may possibly be true to form them), and even crazy hysterics. If there is any significant achievement it's in taking the cop movie into such depraved depths it's like looking at a very entertaining infected boil: you know it'll pop any minute, and the pus might just run out a little bit here and there till there's more to squeeze out. There's almost an underlying current of hopelessness that gives the movie some intellectual lift, but at the same time it's such a time-waster that unless you're hardcore fans of the actors it's just about worth a rental.

Keanu Reeves goes from wooden to soggy-bottom wood as a cop who has been doing some dirty tricks to catch the bad guys lately (like setting up two Koreans- who are bad dudes for sure- by having them jack his car and then catching up with them to pop caps in their behinds), and he might be ratted out by his former partner. But when his partner is killed in very conspicuous circumstances, he goes to investigate it further while on a quasi-probation for even being at the scene of the crime (the crime, by the way, has one of the cheesiest "don't die on me" moments I've ever seen, laughably bad in how it's executed, no pun intended). Now, the conclusion shouldn't be at ANY surprise to anyone in the audience who's at least seen ONE other work by James Ellroy, the film's co-writer.

What does give it just a bit of extra lift is the extreme quality of the conclusion, how things seem so ridiculous that in any other hands this would be total nonsense. David Ayer, the director (and writer of Training Day, the perennial new millennium corrupt-cop saga), does have a good handle on the material though, even with ham-bone performance; Forest Whitaker is one of them, sadly, as he basically retreads his persona from The Last King of Scotland as the "King" of the corrupt cops. There is some not too shabby work, like a nearly phoned-in-from-House performance from Hugh Laurie (not unappreciated if you are a House fan), but it's mostly from supporting players like Jay Mohr in odd mustache and Common, the rapper, as one of the 'thugs'. It all kind of blends together as a pulpy orange of a B movie, good for something to not ponder too long over, but not as horrible as you might expect for a genre piece. It's a flavor of the season.

When I first took this in at the theater, I had high expectations, and it still blew me away. I remain spell-bound by this. It is an extensively well-thought-out and entertaining film. The plot is compelling, engaging and keeps developing, and while I had a hunch about one twist, I did not see them all coming. This has spot-on pacing, not a boring second to be found, or an overwhelming one for that matter. The cinematography and editing are excellent throughout. Every moment of the action is awesome, intense and exciting without being unrealistic(within the bounds of Hollywood, that is... which, if going by this, is actually entirely acceptable), and there is a solid and fitting amount of it. The music is appropriate for where this is set, not to mention really cool, consisting mainly of hardcore rap. As you can probably figure out, the tone of this is brutal, dark and gritty, through and through, and should not be viewed by anyone who may not be able to take it. The writing is astounding; the script, the dialog, the overall story, all of it. There is a lot of slang(the subtitles certainly helped me out), and some instantly memorable and utterly quotable lines. Almost all of the humor, which is also very rough(and the amount of which is considerable), lies in what is said, how it's put and/or its delivery; think verbal, British comedy(with four-letter words). The characters are distinguished, credible, and psychologically accurate, with no real exceptions, and while there is a heavy dose of macho-ism and bloated egos(some bits are soaked in, and dripping, testosterone), it never gets ludicrous, and there are several characters who help keep it grounded, in their more agreeable personalities. I think it is also notable that this, beyond a sequence lasting no longer than a few seconds, this does not at any point stoop to the lowest common denominator and try to appease and appeal to the young male demographic by simple parading something to gawk at. This isn't denying the existence of such, it just has nothing gratuitous in the way of it other than aforementioned brief part. The acting is magnificent, for basically every part(I owe Evans a heartfelt apology, the guy can actually do great work, and be pretty bad-ass), Reeves is believable, and Whitaker performs well in everything required of him in this. Both Laurie and Mohr, honestly, if you didn't know they usually go for making people laugh, you wouldn't know from this, they're straight-faced and professional all the way(and I'm not saying they're not funny in this). There is plenty of disturbing content and a ton of strong violence and language in this. The DVD holds an interesting director's commentary, a handful of informative featurettes, deleted scene with the option of hearing Ayer's thoughts on them(by the way, David, if I may call you that, I promise you, you put another movie up on the silver screen, and I *will* almost without a doubt go to the cinema to catch it when it comes out), alternate takes and vignettes(really short documentaries). All of them are well worth the time. I recommend this to fans of the people involved in making it, as well as of the genres and those who want to watch pictures set in this environment. 8/10

STREET KINGS Welcome to Street Kings, the movie that sees Keanu Reeves returning to the genre that made him famous, the action/crime/thriller. And boy is it good to have him back. Whatever your opinion of Reeves is as an actor, I really think he's grown on me in recent years. This also might have something to do with the fact that the guy really doesn't make bad movies that often. Street Kings is definitely in the upper tier of his work, both in his performance and as a film.

One thing that should immediately stand out to you is the size and profile of the cast, which is not short on stars. However, underneath the sea of recognizable faces is a gripping thriller with enough gunfire and blood to satisfy most fans of the action genre, as well as a compelling story to keep the crime buffs interested. We follow Reeves' Tom Ludlow, a brutal and unforgiving LAPD detective, as he works the streets of Los Angeles without rules and uses whatever force is necessary to get the job done. However, when he is implicated in a crime, he must put all he knows behind him to save his life and career.

Keanu Reeves...I can't think of many actors who have played more characters that define the word 'badass' (maybe Mark Wahlberg). So what if his abilities are limited to being dark, moody, and the definition of brooding intensity? He's GOOD at it! He can play the most repulsive guy (like he does in this movie as well as Constantine), yet still come off as likable, which is why I'll finally admit that I like the guy.

The massive supporting cast is headlined by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, and everyone's favorite snarky doctor, Hugh Laurie. While Whitaker does his usual theatrical/over the top act, it really fits with his character and doesn't detract from the film. Laurie is also great in a scene stealing role as the Captain after Ludlow's badge. Chris Evans is forgettable, but not horrible. Cameos from "The Moniker Team", as I like to call it, are welcome additions as well. This team consists of Common, The Game, and Cedric the Entertainer. Common's cameo as an ice cold villain is memorable and almost scary. I loved him. Amaury Nolasco annoyed me once again, while seeing John Corbett in a movie was kind of weird, considering that he 'retired' a few years ago.

The mood and atmosphere of Street Kings is where it gets its title. It really felt like a constant power struggle within the movie not only between the characters, but with Reeves' character as well. His character's light and dark sides both come out in the film, but the real twist is which side comes out on top in the end. The film has several twists and turns, including a somewhat predictable revelation as to who the main bad guy is, but I found that I was never bored. It is well paced and definitely entertains with some dark and dry humor here and there.

With Street Kings, you've got a thriller that doesn't bring a lot of new things to the table in the 'dirty cop movie', but instead has a strong foundation in its cast and director (David Ayer, the man behind other dirty cop stories such as Training Day and Harsh Times), which shows on screen. It's one of the better thrillers this year, and is worth a look if you're into the genre.