Narc

Narc was very, very fast-paced, and at times a little hard to follow... but whatever confusion I felt only added to the stark surrealism of the story. Shots of blue and gray and black, full of dark lines and sharp corners while always real somehow appeared to be strange and deep and profound. The story is gritty, filthy realism--- but I felt as though I were stepping into a completely amazing hallucination.

The acting and everything is brilliant but what really gets me is how well the feelings and the visual come together. The realism and blood becomes something deeply emotional.

I recommend it... unless you want to be all happy and sunny, in which case Narc is not for you.

This film reminded me of those cop films from the late 60's and 70's like "The Seven Ups" and "The French Connection" but this film is really dark and dirty. One thing that stands out is the cinematography that I'll describe later. Film opens with a cop chasing a suspect into a park and when shots are fired at one another a pregnant woman gets hit. Month's later the force wants him back to work with an older cop and investigate a cop killing. Jason Patric and Ray Liotta star in this film and its directed by Joe Carnahan who employs a very good visual style to an already familiar story. The film has a dark and gritty look about it that suggests a touch of "Film Noir". One scene in particular stands out and its the one where Patric and Liotta are in a cafe having coffee and talking. The scene is dimly lit with both characters seemingly in shadows. It suggests that both are shadowy figures and have something to hide. Carnahan creates a dark mood for the film that I found very effective. Nothing seems forced here and it creates an indelible aura of bleakness. These are the streets that these cops work in everyday and you can understand some of the personality flaws of the characters. Ray Liotta stands out here and its the type of performance that reminds us why Scorsese cast him in "Goodfellas" in the first place. He gained 25 pounds for the role and along with Tom Cruise and a host of others helped produce this film. All the hard work paid off and I hope studios remember him with more work. He's always been a terrific actor and its hard to forget those eyes of his when he sinks his teeth into a role like this. They're was some talk of him being nominated for an Academy award in the supporting category which would be wrong. Both he and Patric are in the film about the same amount of time. They are both starring roles and its not a supporting performance. Some people complained of the dark edge and mood of the film but thats exactly what I liked about it. Well photographed and very well acted, this is a solid cop film that people should check out.

Rating: 8 out of 10. Written and Directed by Joe Carnahan.

Narc is one of the best movies that I have seen in recent months, I rented it several weeks ago from the video store and caught most of it again just last week on a movie channel. This is a story of bad cop and bad cop working together, which is a relief to me since the good cop plus bad cop pairing is too over done. Joe Carnahan shows that he is an extremely talented writer and director.

I have found myself thinking back to this movie several times since seeing it. It has a unique quality and excellent style to it. It also does not hurt to have good writing and directing that was complimented with the great acting of Jason Patric and Ray Liotta.

Jason Patric is Nick Tellis, an undercover narcotics officer. The movie opens with Tellis chasing a drug dealer through backyards and into a park until the chase ends with a shooting, the suspect gets hit, but so does a pregnant woman that was a bystander. The next scene takes place over a year later, and Tellis is in a boardroom meeting with a police board of inquiry. We find out that the pregnant woman that got shot lost her unborn child and that Tellis has been on an administrative leave all this time for over a year. The board offers him a deal, which is to solve the murder of a slain undercover narcotics officer named Michael Calvess. If he solves this murder, he will be fully reinstated with a choice assignment. Tellis storms out of the meeting declining the offer. A police captain played by Chi McBride follows Tellis out the room and is able to convince Tellis to reconsider.

As Tellis starts to investigate the murder, he requests the help of Calvess' former partner Henry Oak played by Ray Liotta. Initially the police captain says that Oak is off limits to the Calvess case and mentions that Oak is unstable. Oak isn't just unstable, he is a brutal cop, and we see a few flashback scenes of Oak viciously beating up suspects. Police Internal Affairs is always on the look out to find Oak guilty of brutality or planting evidence or any of the violations of conduct that Oak is suspected of doing. What allows Oak to continue to roam around like a vigilante is his impressive work record, the majority of Oak's arrests end up with a conviction. Therefore, Tellis is able to get Oak back onto the case.

As we see Tellis and Oak investigate, we see some very unusual characters and a couple of twists to the storyline. Of course Oak is quite brutal and Tellis is okay with using police brutality at times but is sometimes surprised at Oak's actions and methods. The movie ends with some shocking revelations.

Narc was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. Which is not a surprise since this was a very good film.

Detroit undercover cop Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) accidentally shoots a pregnant woman who subsequently loses her child during a violent takedown. He is dismissed but he's reinstated 18 months later to investigate the murder of rookie cop Michael Calvess. His wife wants him to do something else. Despite Captain Cheevers (Chi McBride)'s misgivings, Tellis gets Calvess' unstable partner Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) reinstated on the case.

This is a hard-boiled gritty cop drama. Both Patric and Liotta have that hard worn-down edge. It has the violent brutal sense of a dirty underground. It's a throwback to a 70s sensibility of a murky police investigation.

Seeing that Ray Liotta is one of my favourite actors, I was pretty sure this movie was going to be very good. And it is a good movie. It is dark, well acted and it tells a story of how far some people are willing to go to honour the memory of a friend and colleague. One cop, Nick Tellis, suspended after a stray bullet hits a pregnant woman, is put on a murder investigation of an undercover cop. He teams up with bad ass cop Henry Oak and together they try to solve it. But if everything as it seems? Both lead actors in this movie, Jason Patrick and Ray Liotta, do a great job. You really get the feeling like you are in the movie instead of just watching it. Most of all, the characters are believable and that is so important for a movie like this. If you like thrillers with a dash of action and drama, you will enjoy this movie. I know I did. I rate this movie 7/10