Movie Reviews

Cop dramas have generally been done to death, in my opinion. It takes things such as the strong writing of L.A. Confidential or the gritty realism of Narc to make a police movie seem compelling to me. Dark Blue has one interesting element going for it: it takes place in Los Angeles in 1992, after the police-beating of Rodney King, and just days before the verdict of the four white police-officers charged with the assault is revealed. Strained ratial relationships are a key part of the film, and the anticipation of the verdict is an important part of the plot (namely, if the white police officers are pronounced innocent -- which they were -- the whole city was preparing for a large-scale riot -- which did happen).

Aside from this, though, there wasn't a whole lot in Dark Blue that was new or different than other cop films. Kurt Russell as the lead character, a tough, racist police lieutenant, was nothing spectacular, nor was his dorky rookie sidekick, played by Scott Speedman.

Not horrible, but not particularly memorable.