"Dark Blue" review

Dark Blue (2002)

Directed by Ron Shelton
Writing credits James Ellroy David Ayer

Kurt Russell .... Eldon Perry
Scott Speedman .... Bobby Keough
Michael Michele .... Beth Williamson
Brendan Gleeson .... Jack Van Meter
Ving Rhames .... Arthur Holland
Kurupt .... Darryl Orchard

Every white cop is a murdering, evidence planting scourge of the community. The black cops go to church and pray to bring justice to the community. So says "Dark Blue". Kurt Russell and sidekick bring justice to the mean streets of L.A. - white cop style. Beating, killing, lying and just being white. The black cops are disgusted and are going to bring them down. The Rodney King riots are going on in the background just for emphasis so that the audience can make the connection that bad white cops brought the riots down on L.A.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the movie goes for a simplistic notion of good guy/bad guy. I can't believe that the situation in L.A. is so, (forgive me), black and white. I didn't buy it. James Ellroy seems to have a thing against LA cops. After the cop massacre at the end of "LA Confidential" and now this indictment from "Dark Blue", I have to wonder why he has such strong feelings against them.

All that aside, I thought Kurt Russell did a great job. It was definitely one of his better acting performances. "Dark Blue" tells a pretty straight forward corrupt cop story. Nothing too exciting except for Russell. The L.A. riots happen near the end but it didn't seem all that horrific. It was more of a distraction for Russell's character than anything anyone was really interested in. The riots were background noise.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 4 corrupt Russells