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Sometimes, casting one really talented actor will improve the performances of a movie’s entire cast. At other times, though—as with Harsh Times director David Ayer’s new cop thriller, Street Kings—one bland actor (Keanu Reeves, for example) manages to bring the rest of the cast down with him. Then again, sometimes even the best actors fall flat on their faces when faced with poorly-written dialogue. So, unfortunately, the cast of Street Kings already had two strikes against them when they showed up on set.
Street Kings is the story of back-stabbing and betrayal within the LAPD. Detective Tom Ludlow (Reeves) has never been one for playing by the rules—and, throughout his career, he’s learned to cover his tracks and do whatever it takes to crack a case. But some people don’t appreciate Ludlow’s techniques—like his former partner, Terrence Washington (Terry Crewes), who’s been talking to Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie), the head of Internal Affairs. When Ludlow tries to confront Washington about it, he ends up caught in the middle of a robbery gone bad—and Washington is killed.
An investigation into Washington’s murder could implicate Ludlow, so his boss, Captain Wander (Forest Whitaker), covers it up and advises Ludlow to forget about it. But Ludlow won’t let it go—and he starts digging to find the men who killed his old friend.
Perhaps Street Kings could have been an exciting cop thriller if it had felt the slightest bit natural. But it tries so hard to sound cool that it comes off sounding like your Uncle Stu, the creepy uncle (who never married, for some reason) who always tried to talk to you in “the kids’ language.” And there’s just nothing worse than some balding guy in polyester pants trying to sound like he’s with it. Whether it’s the fault of the writers, who made the dialogue just too ridiculous to deliver, or the actors, who couldn’t make the lines believable, is up for debate. I’m going to go with option c: both. But, whatever the case, it made the movie more of a comedy than a thriller.
So now take your corny dialogue and your melodramatic performances and add in every cop cliché in the book. How about a tough cop who’s really just acting out to cover up the pain he feels inside? Sure, Ludlow bends the rules, and he drinks on duty, and he beats up on guys for no apparent reason—but it’s really just because he’s still mourning the death of his wife (despite the fact that he’s already hooked up with some hot little nurse). And then, of course, you’ve got your crooked cops and your tattooed thugs and your weasely Internal Affairs guy. It’s all been done so many times before that it makes Street Kings just plain dull.
With its overused clichés, overdone dialogue, and over-the-top acting, there’s really no good reason to go out of your way to check out Street Kings—except, maybe, for a laugh.
