Street Kings: Clean Your Mouth Out With Buck Shot

Director: David Ayer
Writers: James Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer
Producers: Lucas Foster, John Ridley, Erwin Stoff.

Starring: Keanu Reeves as Tom Ludlow, Forest Whitaker as Captain Jack Wander, Chris Evans as Paul Diskant, Martha Higareda as Grace Garcia, Cedric The Entertainer as Scribble, Jay Mohr as Sgt. Mike Clady, Terrence Crews as Terrence Washington, Common as Coates, The Game as Grill, and Amaury Nolasco as Cosmo Santos(IMDb). Rated-R.

Tom Ludlow is a veteran detective who does not operate by usual police procedure. In secretive cooperation with Captain Wander, Ludlow often has a license to operate above the law. Ludlow's former partner Terrence Washington, has taken the righteous path, and no longer involves himself in the shady dealings of the police underworld, so he began working with internal affairs to fight the corruption. Captain Wander warns Ludlow that Washington is trying to rat him out, but in a store robbery Ludlow and Washington are caught in the cross fire that involves 3 suspects, one of which is a cop.

From the opening scene I was engaged by the film by Ludlow's action to grab his gun moments after he wakes up. That scene provided the audience a clue of the type of cop Ludlow was. Being a cop was his life, and he fit the motif of the tough cop who lived for alcohol and catching the bad guys with a vigilante flair. Ludlow was a semi honorable cop, and for that reason it appeared movie watchers were in supportive of him executing vigilante justice.

The pace of the film was really good. The story did not lag at all, and the dialogue between the characters helped provide a clear explanation of how each character played a role in the over all goal of the film. Certain parts of this film were predictable, especially the general outline of the events leading the ultimate confrontation in the film, but it was still an entertaining police drama
with funny moments. The end of the film was not as climactic as I would have liked, but it was descent. According to Movies.com, critics gave it a C+, and the fans gave it B+, and I will side with the critics and give it a C+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.