Review: Street Kings - Directed by David Ayer
Rated R for gang violence and strong language

With a screenplay by the guy who wrote the novel that would go on to be L.A. Confidential and the hit/miss scribe behind Ultraviolet and Equilibrium, and directed by the guy who wrote the screenplay for Training Day, Street King's pedigree would suggest an epic crime movie.

Unfortunately, what we got instead was a cliche-ridden knockoff of The Shield...only not nearly as well done.

In Street Kings, Keanu Reeves plays hardcore LAPD detective Tom Ludlow--a phone book swinging, bad guy killing crooked cop with a heart of gold and a damaged liver. Forest Whitaker is his controlling boss. And no cop movie would be complete without an Internal Affairs officer, played oddly enough in Street Kings by Hugh Laurie.

As far as the plot is concerned, Street Kings is a twisty tale of murder, revenge, and corruption. If you've seen anything else in the inner-city police action/drama genre, nothing will seem particularly fresh. It's a (mostly) entertaining concoction of elements, just don't expect them to break any new ground.

Forced to play a real person and not some daemon-slaying, kung-fu fighting prophet, Reeves brings a sense of maturity far flung from his Speed days. Meanwhile, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker further shows his mastery of the eye-bulging freak out. Both leads play their roles with competence, but it's essentially more of the same that should be expected from them.

In all, Street Kings feels a lot like the product of a desire to create the stereotypical cop drama. It's formulaic in a way that insures safe story telling--void of anything that will help it to be remembered in the years to come.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (7/10, 70%)