Street Kings (2008)

An undercover cop, disillusioned by the recent murder of his wife, is implicated in the murder of an officer and must struggle to clear himself.

Director:

David Ayer

Writers:

James Ellroy (screenplay), Kurt Wimmer (screenplay)

Stars:

Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keanu Reeves	...	Detective Tom Ludlow
Forest Whitaker	...	Captain Jack Wander
Hugh Laurie	...	Captain James Biggs
Chris Evans	...	Detective Paul Diskant
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Scribble (as Cedric 'The Entertainer' Kyles)
Jay Mohr	...	Sgt. Mike Clady
Terry Crews	...	Detective Terrence Washington
Naomie Harris	...	Linda Washington
Common	...	Coates
Game	...	Grill (as The Game)
Martha Higareda	...	Grace Garcia
John Corbett	...	Detective Dante Demille
Amaury Nolasco	...	Detective Cosmo Santos
Cle Sloan	...	Fremont
Noel Gugliemi	...	Quicks (as Noel G.)

Storyline

LAPD detective Tom Ludlow is a ruthlessly efficient, unorthodox undercover cop. Captain Jack Wander always covers for Tom, as do even his somewhat jealous colleagues. After technically excessive violence against a vicious Korean gang during the liberation of a kidnapped kid sex slave, Tom becomes the target of IA's hotshot, captain James Biggs, who feels passed over after Wander's promotion to chief. Tom's corrupt, disloyal ex-patrol partner Terrence Washington sides with IA but is killed during a shop robbery in Tom's presence.

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Plot Keywords:

captain | murder | undercover cop | violence | lapd | 

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Taglines:

Their City. Their Rules. No Prisoners.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [France] Fox Searchlight [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Turkish

Release Date:

11 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

King's X

Filming Locations:

48th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$12,469,631 (USA) (11 April 2008)

Gross:

$26,415,649 (USA) (11 July 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Regency Enterprises, 3 Arts Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Detective Tom Ludlow (Keane Reeves) wakes up at the beginning to the same alarm sound as in the film Matrix where he played the character Thomas Anderson aka NEO.

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Goofs

When Tom fights the captain in his home and they are both on the ground, we can see a moving shadow on the wall in the background.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boss Kim: Yo dawg.
Tom Ludlow: Konnichiwa.
Boss Kim: What?
Tom Ludlow: Konnichiwa. Konnichiwa. It means what's up. So what the fuck's up?

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Connections

References Serpico (1973)

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Soundtracks

Lean Like a Cholo
Written by Down aka Kilo (as Juan Jose Martinez), Michael McEwan and John Stary
Performed by Down aka Kilo (as Down a.k.a. Kilo)
Courtesy of Silent Giant Entertainment

User Reviews

Okay thriller had too many cooks and was too long in the oven to as good as it should have been

James Ellroy penned tale of a cop, played by Keanu Reeves, who is a loose cannon sent on the trail of the killer of his murdered partner. Protected by his captain because he can get things done and hounded by Internal Affairs, Reeves soon finds he is descending into a world that he really should not be part of. Reeves is okay, if a bit wooden as our antihero. Part of the problem is that he isn't given a great deal to do beyond allowing events to play out around him. To be certain he is a participant in events but there is a coldness to him that doesn't give a great many clues as to what is happening inside him. One would suspect he took the role because it offered him a chance to say some pithy lines, and behave in a more or less serious manner. The rest of the cast is quite good and one suspects that Forest Whitaker (as his boss) and Hugh Laurie (The Internal Affairs guy) took the roles because they got to play a bit against type. Good instead of great the films script, a long time in the oven, shows signs of being worked and reworked so much that the script becomes confused because too many hands lost track of what was going on. Rest assured that the central thrust and much of the dialog seems to be the work of Ellroy, the ending is most assuredly his in plot if not writing, but all of the details the additional writers have added have blurred what ever had attracted a long line of directors and stars to the project. Worth a look on DVD or cable where you're more likely to forgive the flaws.