ThiefHott Too much of everything

GazerRise Fantastic!

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

SnoopyStyle It's 1992 as L.A. awaits the verdict of the Rodney King trial. Special Investigations Squad (SIS) rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) is being questioned about an shooting incident. His partner is the rough and tumble veteran detective Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell). Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson) runs the SIS. Assistant Chief Holland (Ving Rhames) opposes the rough tactics and vows to get Eldon and Bobby. He is assisted by Beth Williamson (Michael Michele) who is sleeping with Bobby without knowing each other's identity. Eldon is getting promoted and has a brassy wife Sally (Lolita Davidovich). Jack is corrupted covering for a couple of gunmen Darryl Orchard (Kurupt) and Gary Sidwell (Dash Mihok) whose shooting Bobby and Eldon are investigating.It's the standard corrupt cop crime drama with lots of tough talk from Kurt Russell. Scott Speedman is playing the naive rookie. There are a few other good actors as well. The case is laid right out without much mystery. It's all testosterone. It's a lot of yelling. It's nothing special. The acting is reasonable but this is all pulpy without any realism. It's fine but it's not anything award worthy. It tries to incorporate the L.A. riots which is a mistake. It could never be big enough to be compelling or real enough to be scary. Making a movie about the riots would be much better. Also Kurt Russell's final speech goes on a little too long. It probably needs to be cut in half.

viewsonfilm.com I have always been a big Kurt Russell fan. He plays anti-heroes, bumbling superheroes, and the everyman character to perfection. Yet, until Dark Blue, I never saw him as a serious dramatic actor who could contend for say, an Oscar. Now granted, Kurt didn't get nominated for his turn as a corrupt L.A.P.D. cop in the movie I'm writing this review on. But he should have. His performance has many more layers than what we're used to seeing from a once famed, child actor. What can I say, as Sergeant Eldon Perry, he is flat out volcanic. Watching him on screen, you feel as if he's acting for his life. I was blown away. Not only is this his best performance ever, but the film outside of Russell, is fantastic as well. Its director Ron Shelton (White Man Can't Jump, Tin Cup), is not known for shooting cop flicks. He's more your lessons- learned-through-sports movie guy. He does however, in this exercise, know the darkest parts of L.A., and he knows how to get his actors to say what they mean and mean what they say. Let's be honest, going into the theater back in 2003, I didn't think a guy who played Elvis and a director who made Bull Durham could deliver a gritty, absorbing, and overwhelmingly solid cop thriller. I have to admit I was mistaken and pleasantly surprised at the same time.Now Dark Blue does come off as a little confusing in the first 10-15 minutes. It then however, settles down to tell its story in a brilliant sort of way that an audience member can not think too hard and be massively entertained at the same time. Based on a short story by crime novelist James Ellroy concerning the famous Rodney King trial and serving as a backdrop to the L.A. riots of 1992, "Blue" makes its case as a character study for Russell, his superior officer (commander Jack Van Meter played Brendan Gleeson who specializes in cold, heartless types), and his nervous young partner (detective Bobby Keough played by Underworld's Scott Speedman). Russell's character and Speedman's character take orders from Van Meter who on the side, has two street thugs regularly steal safes and murder for him (the murders aren't the main intention, it's about the money). In return, he lets them stay out of jail therefore putting the burden of having said detectives (Keough and Perry) find, shoot, and arrest similar suspects who had nothing to do with the crimes. As the film carries on, Perry (Russell) along with Keough (Speedman) have epiphanies and start to question their overall motives. Meanwhile, assistant chief Arthur Holland (played by a powerfully gentle Ving Rhames) is trying to crack the whole internal investigation wide open and expose any corrupt doings within the department.This is a smooth, intricately woven plot machine. As I viewed it for a second time, I was heavily reminded of 2001's Training Day. Both films are similar in their examination of the misguided, fallen nature of L.A.'s finest. In terms of the lead, Russell plays a sort of less nastier version of Denzel Washington's Alonzo Harris. Even the endings of these films seem sort of familiar. Both actors in each movie spout off soliloquies and speeches when their vehicles reach their conclusions. The difference with Dark Blue is that it's a lot less bloody and it deals more with moral issues minus the over-the-top gratuitous violence (just call it Training Day lite). Yes, Training Day is also very good. But "Blue" goes deeper and exhausts you as the viewer, in different, more thought-provoking ways.One of my favorite things I like to do as a critic, is find motion pictures that are vastly underrated and painfully overlooked by other critics and the movie going public. Dark Blue may be one of the most underrated films I have ever seen. It came out at the wrong time of the year (March of 2003 in the U.S.), wasn't marketed terribly well, and as a result, tanked at the box office. The fact that it hasn't grown a mild cult following also has me scratching my head. Bottom line: If you haven't seen this masterpiece, please do so. It makes you question how police work gets done, it forecasts a harrowing sense of dread from the opening scene re-shown and hour and a half later, it has sequences in which Ron Shelton puts you right in the middle of L.A.'s terrifying South Central mind field, and it has Russell plowing his way through "Blue" like a bull in a china shop. All in all, Dark Blue is a gem, a revelation and one "dark" film indeed.

Scott LeBrun Story author James Ellroy and screenwriter David Ayer use the backdrop of L.A. in the early '90s for their hard boiled crime fiction. The cops who beat up on Rodney King are on trial, and the city is waiting to hear the verdict. In the days leading up to the verdict, a homicide investigation involving the L.A.P.D.'s Special Investations Squad (S.I.S. for short) is underway, and a rookie detective, Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) is having a hard time being able to stomach the tactics employed by his less than squeaky clean partner, Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell), a third generation cop with an even more morally bankrupt superior, Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson). A crusading policeman named Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames) is determined to find out the truth about this case, as well as an earlier one that Perry and Keough had worked.As directed by Ron Shelton ("Bull Durham", "White Men Can't Jump"), "Dark Blue" is effective gritty and visceral entertainment with a pretty good story that keeps you watching as it goes through its various twists and turns. The politically loaded subject matter does give it some resonance as well. Russell delivers one of his most electrifying performances as the morally compromised veteran who must eventually start to question the way that he does things. A fine supporting cast is impressive, as well; Russell's scenes with Lolita Davidovich (who plays his fed-up wife) are good at humanizing the Eldon character. Michael Michele is believable as Speedmans' principled love interest. Gleeson is excellent as always, but ultimately this is Russell's show as we see Eldon evolve over the course of this tale.Superb music, by Terence Blanchard, and cinematography, by Barry Peterson, add to the overwhelming atmosphere of this movie. It's enjoyable to watch from start to finish. Those movie lovers who are into this genre should find a fair bit to appreciate.Eight out of 10.

marsmitchell79 Let me set the scene of the movie for you. There are two partners(1 old and 1 young) running around town fulfilling the orders of their infamous, puppetmaster boss by any crooked means necessary. The older cop(Russell)--in turn and due to the fact that his boss used to be his dad's partner--is like a son to him. He takes the younger cop under his wing--in the same way that an older brother that reveres his father would. Basically, Russell defends that man's honor to the younger cop; even though, he knows what they are doing is wrong and he often feels guilty about the murders as dead bodies start to mount by their hands. When Russell's partner(who he loved like a brother) gets shot and killed and he finds out that this father figure boss is responsible(not to mention that the bullets were meant for him), he makes plans to sever ties forever. When you add in Russell's wife and son, the young cop's beautiful cop girlfriend and her convoluted past, Ving Rhames' watchdog investigations into the corruption and his equally convoluted past, family problems, and an ending that you will never forget, you have one of the best movies of all time. It's slightly soap operatic and mostly dramatic. There's a lot going on in this one; you won't get bored; that's for sure! Training Day(a cousin as far as movies go) is better throughout(Dark Blue is close), but Dark Blue's ending is better(Training Day is close, but that shooting scene is over the top). The language is a problem, tho!