Au bout de la nuit 2

Street Kings was quite a surprise hit with stellar cast, somewhat intriguing story and very good direction. Motor City on the other hand is just mess. Not that it doesn't give any entertainment. It does. Specially if you are admirer of cheesy B-movies or those direct to DVD thrillers. Motor City is prime example how to exploit far superior hit film's success, when only thing that relates those two movies are just the title. It amazes me how they got Ray Liotta on board? Did they kidnap his daughter? Or just blackmailed him? Incoherent plot, bad dialog, cliché ridden plot twists that were all written by ten year old. Ray Liotta was the strongest part of the whole movie, but he seemed totally uninterested and thus uninteresting to watch. Shawn Hatosy isn't half that bad actor than he looks in Motor City. Probably it has to do something with inconsistent character development.

Oh, there's another connection between two films - Clifton Powell is in both of them. But he plays different characters.

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

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.

This movie is like a poor mans Training Day. But, without even a single twist.

The script leaves an awful lot to be desired.

It has absolutely zero resemblance to the gritty Street Kings crime drama that came before it.

The only reason I watched it was because Ray Liotta was in it.

I would say save your money, but I'm not sure it even made it into theaters.

If you don't have anything better to do, it's certainly not the worst movie. But don't expect anything like Street Kings of 2008.

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.