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JT (287 KP) rated Street Kings (2008) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Street Kings (2008)

2008 | Action, Drama, Mystery

7.3

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Street Kings follows the likes of Training Day and Harsh Crimes in dramatising the murky underworld of police corruption. In the hands of director David Ayer he’s scattered the narrative with gritty confetti. Pre John Wick, Keanu Reeves was still kicking ass and taking names – he is a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy – nothing new there then.

Reeves plays vodka-swilling undercover cop Tom Ludlow, who is still reeling from the death of his wife and has been implicated in the murder of an officer. Now he has to fight to clear his name with the help of Forest Whitaker.

Ayer is well suited to this genre having written the scripts for Training Day, End of Watch and Harsh Times, so he understands the complexities of the genre in order to deliver a fast paced story. Intercutting the action at the right times.

Of course corruption is not uncommon in fiction and there is always a group of officers hell bent on covering up as much as they can and disposing of as many people as they need to.

The introduction of Hugh Laurie as Captain James Biggs, a man who seems clean cut but is not to be trusted, is a solid addition, although I still seem him as the idiotic Prince Regent in the Blackadder series.

Reeves and Whitaker each turn in a decent performance and there is enough meat on the bone make this a intelligently paced thriller.