The Popkorn Junkie :: Dark Blue

For all of you out there who thought Kurt Russell had died, or been kidnapped--this is the film that will set your mind at ease. Russell is back, portraying the same, one-dimensional, stereotypical characters as always (oh yeah, how could I forget "Captain Ron"), while still managing to entertain us. How? He's Kurt Russell. He's married to Goldie Hawn. He's one of the last remaining commodities from the eighties and America loves him.

In "Dark Blue", Russell stars as Sergeant Eldon Perry, an almost exact replica of Michael Chikliss' character from F/X's "The Shield". He's a combination of Denzel Washington from "Training Day", Ray Liotta from "Narc", and Chi McBride from "Undercover Brother'. He leads the Special Investigations Squad (SIS), and gets things done in ways that aren't always legal or moral.

Enter Deputy Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), the only man willing to stand up to Perry and his brand of vigilante justice. He threatens to shut the SIS down, adding some extra tension to Perry and his crew. A side story in the films concerns Russell training a young rookie named Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman). The boy is the typical idealistic youth (i.e. Ethan Hawke in "Training Day"), and Russell's character shows him that corruption and underhandedness is just part of the game. The rookie's first assignment involves helping Russell track down the persons responsible for a violent homicide.

An interesting sidenote about this film is that it takes place just days before the L.A. riots, which occurred after four white police officers were acquitted of brutally beating Rodney King, even though their actions were caught on video tape. As Russell and Speedman navigate the city looking for murderers, we see the turmoil building in the streets and we start to realize what might have caused the riots, other than the acquittal. The streets are filmed and portrayed with the same ferocity and meanness than we see in and feel from Russell's character, something expertly handled by director Ron Shelton, the genius who usually sticks to sporting movies like "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup"

This is a very dark film, much like a picture from earlier in the year entitled "Narc". Most movies about law enforcement, of late, have been almost philosophical statements about; they have deep moral messages and unbelievably emotional characters. What I liked about "Dark Blue" is that it does away with all of that 'holier than thou' hogwash that we saw in "Training Day" and "Narc"", and instead goes back to those gritty, action packed cop dramas we use to see all the time, like "Dirty Harry" and even "One Good Cop' with Michael Keaton.

This is not a perfect film and, in fact, is rather flawed. Kurt Russell overacts somewhat, Scott Speedman barely acts at all, and Lolita Davidovich--I don't even know where she's been for the past few years. The script is unusually weak for a Ron Shelton piece, and the music is like a nauseating hybrid of "Dragnet" and "Maude'. But, the picture works, because it gives us something we haven't seen in a while--a good old fashioned cop story that strives to do nothing but entertain and give us our money's worth. And, with the price of movie tickets going up every other day, that is becoming increasingly more difficult to accomplish. "Dark Blue", however, succeeds.

So, if "Daredevil" is too animated for your taste, or "Gods and Generals" seems a little too authentic (a.k.a. lagging), then "Dark Blue" might be right up your alley. You won't walk out of the theatre feeling mesmerized, but you'll certainly walk out feeling entertained. What else could you want from a movie?

-- Billy Ray ( 3 pops out of 4 pops )

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Other Junkie's opinions.....

James ( 3 out of 4 pops )

I'm a fan of Kurt Russell, what can I say? I've been a fan since I saw "Overboard". And then there's the great action flicks "Escape from NY" and later "LA", he's the perfect action star. Arnold Smarnold. Speaking of which, the "She'll be back" line in the Terminater 3 preview is so korny, it's not even laughable. Anyhoo, "Dark Blue". It's what I call 'action noir'. A little bit of action/adventure and a little bit of film noir. Hence the name. Ving Rhames and Brendan Gleesan are intimidating in their performances...Scott Speedman must be Ed Norton's twin brother, because they share so many expressions, it's uncanny! Overall, I liked this film. It has a nice story and a not-so-nice backdrop. For the past 7 years, I've tried to forget about people crushing other people's skulls with blocks of concrete. It's really sad what happened to a US city because of the mistreatment of one, of course, the one, was really symbolic of the entire black race, but it's just sad that people can lose control like that. This is a good movie, but not the action fodder for the toddlers.