Au bout de la nuit 2

How far should you dig on an investigation. After a series of police murders, Detectives Marty (Liotta) and Dan (Hatosy) and picked to head the investigation. After following some clues, Dan finds a trail of corruption that shakes him and his faith in the system. It's been awhile since I've seen the first "Street Kings" but I remember it being a little slow and not liking it that much. This one I thought was much faster paced, had more action, and to me was a better movie. Not much in the way of originality here, but a very enjoyable movie and much, much better then I was expecting. Going into too much depth will give away the movie, (it is a little predictable, but still...) but I will say this movie will not disappoint you. Weather you like the original or not, this is a good time. I think this one of the few sequels that is better then the original. I give it a B+.

Would I watch again? - I think I would

'STREET KINGS 2: MOTOR CITY': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Sequel to the 2008 dirty cop film 'STREET KINGS', which was directed by David Ayer (who wrote the similar themed films 'TRAINING DAY', 'DARK BLUE' and 'HARSH TIMES'). This one is directed by Chris Fisher (who also directed the crooked cop film 'DIRTY' and another direct to video loose sequel 'S. DARKO') and it's written by Ed Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft. It stars Ray Liotta and Shawn Hatosy and the only returning cast member from the original is Clifton Powell as Sergeant Greene. The film once again deals with police corruption and an investigation into multiple police murders. It's set in Detroit rather than L.A. and is really just a sequel in name only. As far as direct to video sequels go of this nature it's surprisingly entertaining and at least somewhat well made.

Ray Liotta plays veteran police detective Marty Kingston and Shawn Hatosy plays rookie detective Dan Sullivan. When Marty's partner is murdered he's put on assignment to head up the investigation with Sullivan. A series of clues lead to the possibility that the murder was an inside job and a police detective is the culprit. Dan is expecting a child with his young wife and he soon finds his family in danger as well as his faith in the job.

The movie is pretty routine and predictable and there's definitely no big surprises. There's of course nothing groundbreaking or too memorable about the film but it is well made none the less. Hatosy and Liotta are good like always and their characters are relatable and mostly believable. The action scenes are decent and somewhat thrilling and if you like the genre you'll definitely be interested and involved in how it all works out. Nothing great or outstanding but it is an enjoyable and well made cop thriller all the same.

Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU_O9yN8W_E

Cop thrillers are a dime-and-dozen- probably because it doesn't cost too much to make one, and the fact that we can't help but be intrigued by our men-in-blue. The latter is probably also the reason why most cop thrillers inevitably revolve around the theme of corruption, since the very nature of dirty cops goes against our very intuition of the kind of people we want enforcing law and order on our streets.

David Ayer's 'Street Kings' was no different- it packed the grittiness that has become a prerequisite for the modern-day cop thriller, and it had a compelling plot courtesy of star writers James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) and Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen, Salt). This direct- to-video in-name only sequel however tries very hard to be gritty, but the lack of a gripping plot- written by newbies Ed Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft- means that it comes apart pretty quickly.

Once again, this sequel pairs a clean-cut rookie (Keanu Reeves in the former; Shawn Hatosy in this movie) with a veteran cop (Forest Whitaker in the former; Ray Liotta in this movie), with the veteran teaching the rookie the ways by which cops on the beat go about their business- even if it means taking a little on the side, or turning a blind eye. Here, Hatosy's rookie is a certain Dan Sullivan who is assigned to work with Liotta's Marty Kingston after a Narcotics cop is gunned down in cold blood.

The case intensifies after two other cops, both Narcotics officers and former partners of Kingston, also turn up dead. If you're guessing if the killer is a cop or a thug, don't bother- Gonzalez and Haft seem to have so little confidence in their story that they reveal who the killer is just half an hour into the movie. Of course, it really isn't much of a surprise too- but the revelation still deflates much of the suspense that should accompany a movie like this.

Indeed, once we know the killer's identity, it's only a matter of time before Sullivan puts the pieces together and tracks him down. Director Chris Fisher tries to make this about the dilemma Sullivan faces taking down one of his own, but the attempt at injecting complexity into the mostly perfunctory proceedings is hardly engaging enough. And since the characters aren't fleshed out properly, even the ending- which retains the original's irony- comes across limp and uninspired.

The performances here are mostly just mediocre- Liotta has been in so many such genre stuff that he seems content to just sleepwalk through the role; while Hatosy is passable as the rookie forced to learn the ropes the tough way. And besides them, the rest of the supporting cast including Clifton Powell and Kevin Chapman as Kingston's former partners are mostly wasted.

While 'Street Kings' was a sufficiently gripping cop thriller, this sequel is no more than a run-of-the-mill addition to the genre that will quickly be forgotten- after all, you will probably get the same and more in an episode of 'Law and Order' or 'The Shield' on TV. Even with lowered expectations for direct-to-video sequels, this is still a disappointing attempt at trying to replicate the success of its modestly successful predecessor.

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Don't put your hopes too high, regarding the title, you might be missled in thinking: "this could be something worth watching"... well nothing further away from truth. Almost naive in how predictable can be, every 10 minutes a cliché. From time to time You can feel and see the effort of those involved in making the movie of trying to make it look like a serious action movie by inserting plot twists, but no one buy it, and by the second half even they are getting bored.

Just in case you have a boring Sunday afternoon and you wanna see it I won't spoil it, all i can say it's that at the end i had the impression that a 14 year old fan of action movies was in the director's chair. I give it a 5 just because of Ray Liotta, even that it's not his best performance.

Sure, this story's been told before. Old wine, new bottle. Corrupt cops, veteran cop partnered with first-year cop, Internal Affairs on their tails, and so on and so forth. Nothing original there. Come to think of it, is anything actually "original" anymore these days?? What was refreshing, at least for me, was the setting. Detroit... Motown, Motor City, 2011. Great, great shots of the city from a wide array of angles, including from across the river in Windsor. Just superb. If you've ever lived in Detroit, or even just visited, then you'll see what I mean, especially compared to the mid-70's, when I lived there. And even if you've never been there, what a pleasant treat to watch an action cop flick that wasn't filmed in the same ol same ol: NY, Chicago, or L.A.

The score was excellent as well, and really set the mood. The acting was solid, and Ray Liotta fans won't be disappointed.

If you've got HD and a decent sound system, allow yourself to sit back and be mesmerized, and never mind the hackneyed plot and predictable storyline.

If you're more into witty dialog, memorable one-liners, suspense, surprise twists, and all that, then by all means, take a pass.