National Security (2003)

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers (WGA):

Jay Scherick (written by) &
David Ronn (written by)

Release Date:

17 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

They only look like cops.

Plot:

Two mismatched security guards are thrown together to bust a smuggling operation.

Plot Keywords:

Security Guard | Shot In The Butt | Keys Locked In Car | Strip Search | Machine Gun

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Dec. 12	4:00 PM	Telemundo
Sun. Dec. 20	4:00 PM	Telemundo

Cast

Martin Lawrence	...	Earl Montgomery
Steve Zahn	...	Hank Rafferty
Colm Feore	...	Detective Frank McDuff
Bill Duke	...	Lieutenant Washington
Eric Roberts	...	Nash
Timothy Busfield	...	Charlie Reed
Robinne Lee	...	Denise
Matt McCoy	...	Robert Barton
Brett Cullen	...	Heston
Cleo King	...	Woman in Car
Gerry Del Sol	...	Booking Clerk
Ken Lerner	...	Hank's Lawyer
Mari Morrow	...	Lola
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Billy Narthax
Joe Flaherty	...	Owen Fergus

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Malaysia:18PL | Hungary:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38105) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Fire Station 23 - 225 E. 5th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Earl's automatic pistol, "Earl Jr.", is a Glock 18C.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Hank is let out of the hole, he punched the guard. A prisoner never has the chance to attack guards while in the hole because they are cuffed while still in the cell, also there is always at least two guards for escort not one.

Quotes:

[Hank is mad at Earl]
Hank: You got something in your teeth.
Earl: Where, here or here?
[Hank punches Earl]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

What the problem is?

I usually don't like Martin Lawrence and I find his anti-white humor to be quite offensive as well as his string of bad movies. But compared to his other movie of 2003 (that would be the shockingly awful Bad Boys II), National Security is a rather easy-going and light-hearted cop comedy flick with quite a few good laughs. A lot of them, surprisingly, coming from Lawrence himself.

Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn)is a cop who is unfairly thrown in jail for apparently beating a black suspect (Lawrence) who just got kicked out of Police Academy. With his career in tatters he emerges from the slammer with only one job opportunity available; a lowly guard for a lowly security company. Determined to follow up on the big case he was involved with before serving time, he crosses the path of fellow security guard Earl Montgomery (Lawrence again) and the two reignite their old conflict.

The old love/hate buddy thing may be old and the plot may be silly but it's a great excuse for loads of action set-pieces and humor. The potentially dangerous comedy of black vs white never becomes offensive and is handled with such lightness that it never becomes an issue. Both men have their failings and bonuses and are as equal as each other. You really do feel a great partnership between them despite their arguing and fights.

Give National Security a try. It's slick and fast-moving and is a helluva lot better than Bad Boys II. You'll probably be surprised at how funny Martin Lawrence is. I was.

The DVD is in great looking 1.85:1 widescreen with pretty good Dolby 5.1 sound. The scenes where Lawrence uses his automatic pistol really pack a heavy punch in the .1 LFE channel. The usual deleted scenes and commentary are included on the DVD but I was surprised the extended ending wasn't included in the film. It would have been better with it.