Ruas de Sangue

You can like the faces involved in this dtv flick, but this "dirty cops" tale has all the twists and turns you're expecting or seen before countless times. It's a bit disjointed and they were obviously working with limited time, money, heck maybe an incomplete script.

In the midst of hurricane Katrina, Det. Devereaux (Kilmer) stumbles upon his former partners body in a warehouse and is oddly unphased by it. He gains Det. Johnson (50 Cent) as a new partner. They get intertwined with dirty cops who end up killing an undercover federal agent which gets FBI Agent Brown (Michael Biehn) involved. While Devereaux makes trips to the police therapist (Sharon Stone) as the usual assortment of police corruption & gangster bits play out.

What to take away from this? Quick paychecks for everyone. A Nu Image / Millennium Films dtv quickie. Kilmer & Biehn get to share the screen again. Stone doesn't get to make much of an impact with her character. 'Streets of Blood' features a poor ending, but Kilmer and 50 Cent became friends in real life so there's that.

Gee, I'm gonna have to play the devil's advocate with this film, shamelessly called as being the worst movie ever or things close to such remark. If "Streets of Blood" is the worst thing people are seeing lately then it's better they stay away from movies. It's just another direct-to-video flick that is filled with poor moments and some average acting but it overcomes some of those obstacles and becomes something watchable, easy to digest. Good and that's it.

The plot goes to show that corruption is everywhere, no one is safe but some corrupt cops are better than the others. It follows Val Kilmer and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) as two cops investigating the deaths of several criminals in the New Orleans post-Katrina, a place now devastated, trying to recover from its problems. They're not 100% honest but they're better than their strange partners (played by Brian Presley and Jose Pablo Cantillo), also cops, but with no discipline whatsoever, committing crimes on several occasions, and in one of those they've killed an undercover agent. Parallel to the deaths and the cops routine, there's the Internal Affairs investigation made by Sharon Stone's character trying to figure out if there's dirty cops in the police force when she's positive that there is.

Action scenes are okay, nothing so outstanding. The drama was very problematic with flashbacks that were badly presented, hard to put in order and they diluted the possible chance of suspense. However, the biggest problem is that it tries too hard to impress with its scenes (like the shooting in the drug dealer's house with a horny couple that couldn't stop with the sex while bullets were flying next to them; or when the cops are trying to get information from the hookers.) without making any relevant statement about New Orleans problems after the Hurricane Katrina. To the writers it's far more interesting to say that the crime got worse after the natural disaster but let's show this on a action generic picture than to make dramatic and real statements. But it's so much better than "Hard Luck" whose premise is very similar (in dealing with the tragedy in New Orleans) but that was a pretty bad movie with no chance of redemption. And Hollywood still hasn't made one decent movie about this issue, it's about time.

When it comes the acting department, well, Kilmer and Stone are not on their best form; Jackson goes okay so does Presley playing the redneck cop who always accidentally fires at somebody; Barry Shabaka Henley saved the day playing the only good cop in town; Michael Biehn already tired me out countless times while playing villains.

Really, this is not that bad as viewers tend to say. It offers some good entertainment, a distraction and some good scenes like the repeated exchange between Jackson and a lawyer one cursing each other. I've seen worst things than this film and I trust that some of you as well. 6/10

This movie left me bewildered and frustrated as all hell! The story had all the makings of a great corrupt cop picture. In the hands of a worthwhile director it might have even been worthy of a theatrical release. The talent was all there. The location and story were there as well. The director of photography should be charged with a crime for making the picture look like an eight year old with ADHD and a handycam shot it! This absolutely ruined everything from the start, and was distracting and throughout. Surprisingly, about half-way in, everything starts to click, the imagery is less annoying, and the story comes together. The director is horribly inept, but somehow they completed the picture. I feel bad for everyone involved watching the finished product. They also must have seen a vision in a worthwhile script, which was ultimately devastated by the hacks at Millennium Films, and the talentless director. So frustrating.

Yet another film made bad by horrible casting choices. Seriously, how can you expect to sellout movie theaters casting Val Kilmer and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as your lead roles? To be honest, when I first heard of about this film I was surprisingly excited to see it. I've always liked Val Kilmer and thought this could actually be good. But of course the excitement didn't last long. This film is full of drawn out suspense, horrible acting splashed with horrible Louisiana accents and my favorite part of any film which is getting lost in the story. That said the 6 stars I gave for this film are strictly on the basis of its suspense aspect and any director having the kahunas to put 50 cent in their film should get just a little credit.

This was the worst movie I have ever seen in 45 years. It didn't even have a hero or antihero to root for. Every character in the movie is corrupt. The script, direction, acting, everything bad, bad, bad. You may want to buy a 10 foot pole to keep this one away and I am a Val Kilmer fan!!! Maybe this movie was written by corrupt cops for corrupt cops. Did this movie get made for 150,000 dollars and go straight to DVD? It wasn't even worth being made. I would be very surprised if anyone who saw this enjoyed it and wanted to buy the DVD or watch it again, not counting Sharon Stone's mother or Val Kilmer's sister. If you love film, stay away. If you love Val Kilmer, stay away. If you love Sharon Stone, stay away. If you love Michael Beihn stay away. If you love Steven Segall movies you will enjoy this movie very much. LOL.