"Dark Blue" does its darnedest to live up (or down) to the "dark" side of its title.
This so-so cop thriller also does its darnedest to provide an awards-consideration acting showcase for its star, Kurt Russell — similar to what "Training Day" did for Denzel Washington (it earned him last year's Best Actor Oscar).
Russell may be a capable actor, but he's no Washington. And "Dark Blue" is no "Train-
ing Day," despite its attempts to tackle such risky subject matter as brutality, corruption and racist attitudes within the LAPD. Unfortunately, the film's "revelations" are not new, and they aren't attacked with any real depth.
Russell stars as Eldon Perry, a veteran LAPD detective. As the film begins, Eldon and his new partner Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) have been cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a suspect. That pleases their boss, Jack Van Meter (Irish character actor Brendan Gleeson), who has another case for them — a multiple homicide/robbery in South Central Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the two detectives are being closely scrutinized by Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), the LAPD's assistant chief, who wants to use them to bring down the corrupt Van Meter.
The idea to set this story during the same time period as the Rodney King beating trial may sound like a good one, but it provides a convenient crutch for the filmmakers to keep falling back on.
To his credit, Russell does turn in one of his better performances. As the cop-on-the-edge, he's believable, even if his character's not very likable. However, his solid work here is in service of a fairly manipulative and predictable script.
Also, none of the supporting roles are strong enough. Talented people like Rhames and Gleeson deserve better than this (they also deserve to have more than just one confrontation scene together).
"Dark Blue" is rated R for excessive use of strong sex-related profanity, racial epithets and crude sexual slang terms, violence (gunplay and scenes of police brutality), a brief sexual encounter, brief female nudity and brief simulated drug use (crack cocaine and marijuana). Running time: 116 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com