Street Kings - David Ayer, 2008 - Rated R
Who watches the watchers?
This is one of the questions raised by David Ayer’s Street Kings, a fast-paced police drama featuring Keanu Reeves and Forrest Whitaker. The story immerses you in the under-the-radar world of the LAPD’s Special Vice unit. Obstruction of Justice, planting of evidence, falsification of reports, drug deals, and murder ensue.
Reeves plays an alcoholic gunslinger of a cop who does the missions the department would rather you not know about. Whitaker plays the Vice commander who is always defending the unconventional methods used by his team. Things get complicated and some cops die; Reeves looks like the bad guy. How far will he go (and should he go) to clear his name? Are the tactics he and his team uses justifiable? Do we really want to know what the police and military do when we aren’t watching?
Bottom Line: Despite the sometimes lacking dialogue and, as usual, uninspiring performance by Reeves, Street Kings will leave you thinking about the nature of justice and whether or not an honorable and necessary end can sometimes justify a questionable means.
Oh and there’s lots of gunfights. And the guy who plays the Human Torch.
