Street Kings

''Street Kings'' is a 2008 American action thriller film directed by David Ayer, and starring Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Common and The Game. The initial screenplay drafts were written by James Ellroy in the late 1990s under the title ''The Night Watchman''.

The film was released in theaters on April 11, 2008, and was followed by a direct-to-video stand-alone sequel '' Street Kings 2: Motor City'' in 2011, with Clifton Powell returning as a corrupt cop.

Plot

Tom Ludlow, an alcoholic undercover detective for the LAPD's Vice-Special unit, meets with Korean gangsters for a supposed firearms trade who he believes have kidnapped two teenage girls. During the deal, he deliberately provokes the gangsters into beating him and stealing his car and a machine gun. Unbeknownst to them, Ludlow has placed a tracking device on the vehicle, leading him to the gang's hideout. Ludlow storms the hideout, kills the gangsters, alters the scene to make the shootings look justified, then finds the girls locked in a closet. While the rest of his unit congratulate him, Ludlow is confronted by his former partner, Terrence Washington, who has begun reporting suspicions of Ludlow's corruption to Captain James Biggs of Internal Affairs.

Believing Washington snitched on him, Ludlow follows him to a convenience store to beat him up. However, Washington is killed by two gangsters, Fremont and Coates, under the pretense of a robbery. Surveillance video shows Ludlow brawling with and subsequently shooting Washington accidentally during the gunfight, incriminating Ludlow. Captain Jack Wander offers Ludlow an alibi by advising him to remove the surveillance footage, telling the press he was the first to arrive on scene but too late to save Washington. Investigators assume Washington was corrupt, stealing drugs from the evidence room and selling them to Fremont and Coates. Ludlow enlists the help of Detective Paul Diskant, who handled the forensic evidence, in his personal investigation.

Ludlow and Diskant find a house where the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates are discovered in a shallow grave; they were killed long before Washington's death. Ludlow meets Washington's widowed wife and hands her the surveillance CD. He empathizes with her as he lost his own spouse previously, vowing to avenge his murder. Ludlow and Diskant then pose as dirty cops who are willing to sell of stolen drugs, arranging a meeting with the two criminals masquerading as Fremont and Coates. Diskant recognizes the criminals, but he is shot and bleeds to death. Ludlow kills both men and escapes back to his girlfriend's house, where he sees on the news that they were undercover deputies in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, with Ludlow identified as a "cop killer." Detectives Cosmo Santos and Dante Demille break in and handcuff him.

Santos and Demille admit that they killed and planted evidence implicating the real Fremont and Coates at the scene of Washington's murder. Ludlow realizes that Washington was in fact informing on Wander to Biggs, who is really behind the evidence room theft. To execute Ludlow, Santos and Demille take him out to the house, but Ludlow manages to break free and kill them both. He then heads to Washington's house, where he finds Sergeant Mike Clady searching for the surveillance CD. Ludlow subdues Clady before he can kill Washington's wife, then places him in his trunk.

Ludlow confronts Wander at his house and apprehends him after a brawl. He confesses that he has incriminating evidence against several high-ranking LAPD officials and politicians, with which he would have used to become LAPD chief and eventually, mayor. Wander, asserting that he is Ludlow's friend and mentor, attempts to bribe him with a large amount of money and incriminating documents, but Ludlow refuses and shoots him dead. Later, Captain Biggs and Sergeant Green arrive, and Biggs reveals that they used him to bring down Wander and get access to his files by showing him the real corruption within his unit. Biggs offers Ludlow an alibi. As he leaves, Biggs tells him that the department still needs him.

Cast

* Keanu Reeves as Detective Tom Ludlow
* Forest Whitaker as Captain Jack Wander
* Hugh Laurie as Captain Jimmy Biggs
* Chris Evans as Detective Paul "Disco" Diskant
* Cedric the Entertainer as Winston "Scribble"
* Jay Mohr as Sergeant Mike Clady
* Terry Crews as Detective Terrence Washington
* Naomie Harris as Linda Washington
* Common as Fake Coates
* The Game as "Grill"
* Martha Higareda as Grace Garcia
* John Corbett as Detective Dante Demille
* Amaury Nolasco as Detective Cosmo Santos
* Cle Shaheed Sloan as Fake Fremont
* Noel G. as "Quicks"
* Clifton Powell as Sergeant Green
* Daryl F. Gates as The Chief
* Kenneth Choi as Boss Kim

Production

In 1997, David Fincher had entered negotiations to direct the film, under its original title ''The Night Watchman'' from a screenplay by James Ellroy for New Regency and Warner Bros.

In 2004, it was announced that Spike Lee would be directing the film for a 2005 release. In 2005, it was announced that Oliver Stone was in talks to direct the film. However, Stone later denied this. ''Training Day'' screenwriter David Ayer took over the project.

On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Fox Searchlight Pictures changed the film's title from ''The Night Watchman'' to ''Street Kings''.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes 37% of 150 reviews of the film are positive with average rating of 5.11/10. The site's consensus reads, "''Street Kings'' contains formulaic violence but no shred of intelligence." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $12.5 million from 2,467 theaters, finishing second at the box office. It went on to gross $26.4 million domestically and $39.2 million internationally for a total of $65.6 million.

Home media

The DVD was released on August 19, 2008, as a single-disc offering with director commentary, and 2-disc special-edition set with numerous documentaries, interviews and a digital copy of the film. It is also available on Blu-ray disc with all the special features of the 2-disc DVD version. By January 2009, the film had made $14.6 million from DVD sales.

Sequel

The film is followed by a sequel, '' Street Kings 2: Motor City'', released direct-to-video in 2011. Other than both featuring Clifton Powell (playing different roles), the films are unrelated.

References

External links

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{{James Ellroy

2008 films
2008 action thriller films
2008 crime thriller films
American action thriller films
American crime thriller films
American gang films
American crime action films
2000s crime action films
Dune Entertainment films
Fox Searchlight Pictures films
Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
Films set in Los Angeles
American police detective films
Films directed by David Ayer
Films produced by Erwin Stoff
Films with screenplays by James Ellroy
Films with screenplays by Jamie Moss
20th Century Studios franchises
Films with screenplays by Kurt Wimmer
Films scored by Graeme Revell
3 Arts Entertainment films
Films set in Koreatown, Los Angeles
Regency Enterprises films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
English-language crime action films
English-language crime thriller films
English-language action thriller films