STREET KINGS (2008)

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What can i say. i'm a fan of writer/director David Ayer. he wrote the screenplays for "Dark Blue" and "Training Day," his directorial debut was with "Harsh Times." And now he's back with his sophmore effort "Street Kings." This guys creates the edgiest, darkest, and most violent crime sagas and all take place in the world he knows and comes from: Los Angeles.

In all his films he knows the REAL L.A. and its whats under all the glitz and glamour that young people love about the city, Ayer knows whats in the alleys, the gutters, the hills, and street courts and thats the underworld. L.A. is a scary place once your away from the shops and clubs. And those who can travel both worlds are the ones that are always conflicted in Ayer's movies... the cops.

In Ayer's newest film we have a brawler of a cop Keanu Reeves who is the mad dog for Forest Whitaker. He sets out on his own and does the dirty work for Whitaker, thinking that he is just doing his job and putting bad guys behind bars but once he gets a glimmer of the corruption in his department he starts to do what he was trained to do... detective work. With his partners giving him wary eyes and Hugh Laurie, as an Internal Affairs agent, breathing down his neck, the death of an ex-partner happens conveniently with Reeves at the time and place. what follows is Reeves quest to clear his name, find the shooters, and unravel a conspiracy he seems to be at the center of.

Now the storyline to "Street Kings" is not complex or shakespearen and most intelligent viewers will have figured it out in the first 15 minutes. but the story is not what is on display here... its the acting. Keanu is all testosterone and muscle here playing the kind of role Russel Crowe played in L.A. Confidential in which he was always thought of as just the viciousness muscle but when forced begins to show a hiding intelligence. Forest Whitaker is overacting and its effective as he chew up all the scenery in every scene of his. Chris Evans is in another standout performance and is starting to show himself as a future leading man; with his good lucks and his collection of different roles this may happen very soon. the supporting players are all effective with The GAME as a crook, Cedric The Entertainer as a drug dealer, but its COMMON as a vicious underworld thug that all but steals the movie in his few mins. on screen. he is scary, dark, and threatening and definitely leaves a lasting impression; with this role and his small roles in American Gangster & Smokin Aces one can only hope his role in WANTED is a big one because this guy has range and shows promise of being an actor that warrants RESPECT.

The acting is good but what also pushes the movie is the action. Now all his previous films were tinged with drama and thought, not this one. This is a vicious assault on the senses action film. It starts in the beginning and never lets up with chases all over the ghetto and scenes filled with tension and suspense and an ending that had me on the edge of my seat.

This film truly felt like director Ayer just wanted to make an action film on the streets of LA, nothing thought-provoking or dramatic but just exciting and no-holds barred. You succeeded sir. And i can't wait for your next film.

Street Kings gets a B.

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