Product Description

Gripping performances by Keanu Reeves, Academy AwardÂ(r) Winner Forest Whitaker* and an all-star supporting cast power this action-packed crime thriller, in which a veteran cop finds himself ensnared in a deadly web of conspiracy and betrayal. Reeves stars as Tom Ludlow, a hard-nosed detective with a talent for delivering brutal street justice. When evidence implicates him in the murder of a fellow officer, the violence around Ludlow explodes as he realizes his own life is in danger and he can trust no one.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10831 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2008-08-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Street Kings is a pungent bouquet of corruption, violence, multi-ethnic mayhem, macho glee laced with macho angst, and fluorescently obscene dialogue from the mind of James Ellroy. Its hero, though he'd scarcely consent to be called one, is L.A. police detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), for whom life is a wound that won't heal and dealing out retribution to scumbags is the ongoing treatment. Ludlow's the star player--"the tip of the [expletive] spear"--on a team of detectives headed by Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Coach Wander relies on his boys to keep breaking lurid cases, usually through deeply darkside underground work, and raising his profile with the media and the department. In pursuit of these goals, nothing is forbidden except failure, and the truth is what you make it look like. This is familiar Ellroy territory, most effectively translated to the screen in L.A. Confidential (which should have won the 1997 Oscar, and would have if Titanic hadn't launched that year). If you know Ellroy's ground game, you can pretty much guess where Street Kings is going, and where it's been. Still, the twists and torques of its urban road-rage course maintain the centrifugal force needed to hold us in our seats (a tactical highlight: refrigerator adapted as rolling barricade), and the movie keeps bopping us with oddball casting coups: comic Jay Mohr and Northern Exposure/Sex and the City veteran John Corbett as two members of Coach Warden's gonzo detective squad; Cedric the Entertainer doing a nicely nuanced turn as a street creature; Hugh Laurie doing a less-hyper version of House, if House worked Internal Affairs.

The problem is that director David Ayer keeps everything intense. Dialogues are shot too close-up, line readings are too strident, the action is too nonstop slam. Recall Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential and the mind's eye summons up a whole spectrum of existence, mood, place, historical period, emotional investment; there's an amplitude to the picture and the sensibility bringing it to us, something besides the whodunit and the endless rap sheet of nasty what-they-done. Everything in Street Kings is one-note, and with Keanu Reeves playing it implosive and Forest Whitaker locked in crazier-than-an-outhouse-rat mode, that's no way to stay the course. --Richard T. Jameson

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Stills from Street Kings (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Exciting police drama
Keanu Reeves has come a long way as an actor. If you watch his early films you can see how he struggles to make his emotions authentic, without always succeeding. I think this was a break-through film for him. He is very believable as Tom Ludlow the soused "street fighter" cop who bends and breaks rules to get the job done. Whether he is romancing his gal, grieving over a dead cop, or exploding with rage - the emotions feel "real". And he is even more handsome than he was in his youth.
This was an exciting film from start to finish. There is not one dull moment where your mind begins to wander. The soundtrack was excellent- a menacing heartbeat that always forewarns us of dangers to come. The beautifully done cinematography included vivid colors, wrenching close-ups and sweeping panoramas of L.A. Great work! I think it is too bad that so many movie critics gave this one luke-warm reviews because "Street Kings" is a good film worth seeing. I know I will be eagerly awaiting the dvd release.

Leave the lights off for this part of the police world
"Street Kings"--James Ellroy--deepest corruption, unrelenting violence, hidden acts, provocative coverups--this is a world that Joe and Julia Citizen will never see. The average citizen might assume corruption in police departments, but will never ever guess its extent as "Street Kings" shows.

Governmental and military black ops are kept secret with no written records in efforts to make a dent on destroying evil (philosophically speaking) in the large world. "Street Kings," through the pen of James Ellroy and the direction of David Ayer, exposes a layer of police work that parallels that of black ops. Written records are required in this case but highly filtered and altered.

Keanu Reeves is a surprising choice as Tom Ludlow, police op extraordinaire, but quite convincing as the take-no-prisoners kind of guy--one of the Street Kings of the police underworld. However, his work eliminating evil is protected by his boss, played his usual soft-spoken way by Forest Whitaker, the king of the Street Kings. Perhaps not playing his role viciously took the onus off his character's ultimate revelation.

Once the first scene rolled with its explicit violence and the take-down by death of vicious thugs, the tone of the film is set. Tom Ludlow shows his mettle and his job--ridding the world of dark evils. At a group gathering of police ops for ritual drinks, Ludlow again shows his nature--roiling underneath a seemingly calm exterior, willing to act NOW, and barely containable by his boss, Whitaker's character.

On the other hand, Whitaker shows his hail-fellow-well-met persona, appreciative of Ludlow's work to enhance his own political inside clawing to the top. By movie's end, we see just what Whitaker's character truly wants.

The plot becomes quite complex with the addition of two men--Hugh Laurie as Internal Affairs and Ludlow's former partner who decides to go to IA. More murder, more mayhem. Through it all, believe it or not, Ludlow remains true to himself and to his necessary role in the police underworld.

The film's conclusion is a shocker. I never guessed the depth of the police underworld and what our guardians of the streets would do for public safety and their own protection. Is this just a movie based on a book for entertainment value, or does the movie show truth filtered through fiction?

Entertaining Modern Update to LA Confidential
I was intrigued when I heard that writer James Ellroy, of LA Confidential fame, was attached to this movie. Street Kings plays like a modern version of LA Confidential, albeit much darker and more cynical.

You have similar parallels to the original LA Confidential. Chris Evans of Fantastic Four fame, plays Detective Paul Diskant, more akin to the idealistic Guy Pearce. Keanu Reeves, no introduction needed, plays the bruiser type with an honest heart- more along the lines of Russell Crowe's Bud White. Lastly, Forrest Whittaker gives an entertaining performance as the politically savvy and corrupt vice squad captain, much like James Cromwell's Captain Dudley Smith.

Keanu put on some weight for the movie, I found his performance fine. He's often criticized for being too wooden, but I didn't notice anything that detracted from his performance. It's a genre movie, so certain plot points are predictable, yet I was also pleasantly surprised by a few twists.

If you liked LA Confidential, and are looking for the modern update, then look no further.