DARK BLUE ---------
Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman, "Duets") seemingly has it made. His uncle Jack (Brendan Gleeson, "Gangs of New York") is the head of SIS, his partner Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell, "Vanilla Sky") is a favored veteran and he's just pulled through his first shooting investigation. Each of these assets will turn into a serious debit as Bobby's loss of innocence becomes the final sin carried by the blackened soul of Sgt. Perry in "Dark Blue."
Ron Shelton ("Tin Cup," "Bull Durham") leaves the sporting world behind to direct a dark drama about police corruption. Set against an LA in the grip of the Rodney King trial, David Ayer's ("Training Day") adaptation of a James Ellroy story is a more believable take on the 'corrupt older cop tries to seduce trainee partner' than the incredible twenty-four fireworks of "Training Day" and its thoroughly evil protagonist.
Perry's boozy, cock-of-the-walk bravado has worn down his wife (Lolita Davidovitch, "Play It to the Bone") and drawn the disapproving eye of LA Deputy Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames, "Baby Boy") who is determined to prove Perry lied to the SIS board. Betrayals of both good and bad intent pile one upon another until Perry finds himself in a literal hell so many have wished upon him.
"Dark Blue" is a character study of a man so used to using ends to justify means that he's lost his way entirely. It takes the death of illusion, a marriage and a dependent to open Perry's eyes to his own moral wasteland. Kurt Russell, sporting a lived in face for the first time, thoroughly inhabits Perry as a not particularly bright follower of the old boys' school. His lack of courage in facing the results of his own actions can be seen by his proclivity for approaching the LA wives of his opponents through their mailboxes. He can't look directly at most of the women who populate the film and refers to an innocent victim as a 'facer.'
Speedman shows the strain of fighting his natural tendencies to please his corrupt elders. He's a weak kid facing bullies. Rhames and Gleeson represent the black and white of the script, with Rhames' entirely honorable (except for a blackmailable chink) police officer squaring it off with Gleeson's utterly reprehensible official. Michele is also a bit too earnestly righteous as Holland's assistant and Bobby's lover, but Davidovitch gets the weary, fed-up sexiness of a put upon wife just right.
The Rodney King trial is obviously a metaphor for both the racial lines drawn within the LAPD and its rampant corruption, but the script indulges in racial stereotyping itself by having whites corrupted by money while the Achilles heel of otherwise upright blacks is sex. The far richer, if equally obvious, metaphor is that of the LA riots for Perry's personal hell. If the filmmakers had trusted their audience, they would have ended the film right there in South Central, but instead tack on a grandstanding confrontation scene that is Perry's salvation and Russell's opportunity to go head to head with Pacino's 'You're out of order!' scene.
Cinematographer Barry Peterson ("Zoolander") stays intimate with the action until his glorious coverage of Perry's descent into the riots. Using smoke to partially obscure the landscape, Peterson turns LA into an otherworldly war zone where horrors suddenly come into view around every corner. Original music by Terence Blanchard ("Barbershop") starts off jazzy and grows moodier, reflecting Perry's emotional journey.
"Dark Blue" gets no mileage from using the Rodney King beating to make an illuminating statement on racism, but it works beautifully on a simpler level as a backdrop for one man's self realization.
B
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