Summary:

It is 1991 in Los Angeles as the verdicts in the Rodney King police beating trial are about to be announced.  Rogue cop Eldon Perry, Jr. (KURT RUSSELL), himself the son of a corrupt police officer, is kicking ass and taking names -- clearing bad guys off the street by any means he considers necessary.  His young partner (SCOTT SPEEDMAN) is in the process of being seduced into the same approach, ensuring yet another generation of lawless lawmen.  DARK BLUE is the story of one man’s journey to redemption.

Steve says:

I couldn’t help but notice that critics were falling all over themselves in praise of DARK BLUE; so much so that I felt that we had made a bad call last week, seeing THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE rather than this stark look at police corruption and moral ambiguity within the ranks of an embattled Los Angeles Police Department.  So we caught up with it this week and it became blindingly clear that the affection for this movie is rooted in the stellar acting of Kurt Russell.  It is Russell indeed delivering the performance of his career; Oscar caliber work in a movie that isn’t.  It’s not that the script is terrible, but it was a considerable disappointment given the knowledge that the tale was crafted by L.A. crime-writing maestro, James Ellroy.  But the script by David Ayer has none of the depth of character or plot twists one would associate with an Ellroy story.  The bad guys (and there are a lot of them) are very bad indeed.  In fact, the only good guy in the movie is Ving Rhames.  Oh, the filmmakers attempt to make him less of a saint by referring to an extra-marital affair he had -- FIVE YEARS AGO!  Since then, he has walked the straight and narrow, guilty only of coveting the historical position of Los Angeles’ first African-American Chief of Police.

Make no mistake. Kurt Russell delivers a take-no-prisoners approach to his characterization of a man who has not lost his moral compass; he simply never had one to begin with.  When we meet him, he is brazen, cocky and extremely unlikable.  But things are about to change in his life and we find ourselves feeling for this beast, largely because of the aura of likeability that Russell brings to the character.

All this having been said, DARK BLUE plays as a pale imitation of screenwriter Ayer’s prior success, TRAINING DAY, which put a second Oscar on Denzel Washington’s mantle.  Russell is walking in Washington’s indelible footprints, presenting a major challenge to any actor.

Beating the TRAINING DAY analogy to death, the Ethan Hawke role is played by Scott Speedman (TV’s FELICITY), who is Russell’s younger partner, not yet fully seduced by the Dark Side, but well on his way. 

The movie gets a much-needed shot in the arm from the riot sequence which, with the except of one rather cheesy special effects shot, does an admirable job of recreating the sudden and violent eruption that immediately followed the announcement of the King verdicts.

The straight-ahead story is a standard, by-the-numbers corrupt cop tale and you will not be surprised or taken aback by any of its plot points.  Since the television ads have promoted DARK BLUE as a cross between TRAINING DAY and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, I can only say that you would be far better served to rent either (or better yet both) of the originals and leave this one for when you go to the video store, they’re all out of the selection you really want and you just have to find one that you haven’t seen.  Either that or be a rabid Kurt Russell fan.  In either case, don’t expect too much and you might just like this movie.  Unfortunately, I did and ended up disappointed.

The script isn’t worth more than two kernels but Russell’s towering performance deserves at least, four.  Averaged together -- three kernels.

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Patty says:

Three is such a wishy-washy number.  This is a wishy-washy film.  It seems almost redundant to give it a middle of the road rating. Take Russell’s character, for example.  He is relentlessly without redemption through the first and second act.  Then the filmmakers expect you to forgive him in the final fifteen minutes of the film. Call me silly, but I’m guessing that a guy who can let the cold-blooded killers of pregnant women go free because his boss is getting rich from graft isn’t going to make my “A” list for future best buddies. Despite that, it was hard not to like the guy, even when he advocated anarchy.  Just about the time you write him off, he gets paired up with a young, rebel cop who is trying to connect the dots between his principles and the fine line that his partner draws between frontier justice and social order.

Russell is on his game.  If you see the movie, see it in order to say that you saw Russell inspire the audience to believe in his character.  Ultimately, there is no higher compliment to an actor. 

The script is slow.  I liked the artistry with which the characters are set up.   It wasn’t enough, however, to hold my interest for two hours.  I wasn’t in suspense throughout the film.  It was as though the filmmakers were afraid we wouldn’t get it, so they had to spell it out for us.  Again, I felt as though they lowered the bar and we were rewarded by mediocrity.

Michael Michele is a solid actress.  I’ve enjoyed her work on the little screen and in this film she shows that she can expand her persona to capture the big screen audience.  Otherwise, the acting is adequate.  Russell so dominates the movie that I suspect other performances would be noteworthy if not for the sheer force of his performance. 

I came away from this film without wondering what happens to the protagonists.  I guess that means that the story holds up about like silly putty when you run out of duct tape.

* * * *
March 1, 2003