Review of Cop Car (2015) by Derek S — 23 Oct 2015

Review:

For a low budget, unknown movie, this is half decent but I hate when directors don't fully explain the storyline. I haven't got a clue who the guy in the boot was or what Kevin Bacon was doing in the fields so the plot was a bit sketchy. Anyway, the movie starts off with two 10 year old boys wandering in some fields, for some unknown reason, until they come across an abandoned cop car. They then decide to take the car for a joyride, not realising that the dodgy cop that parked the car there, Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon), has an suspect package in the boot. The two young boys, Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) soon realise that they are in deep trouble when the sheriff contacts them through the police CB radio but he promises not to press charges, as long as he gets his patrol car back in one piece. That part of the storyline was self explanatory but the rest was left up to the audience's imagination, unless I missed an important part of the plot. The film did feel pretty short and it ended quite abruptly but it's full of intensity and deep drama throughout. Kevin Bacon played the creepy cop very well and the young boys also put in an convincing performance but it would have been much better if there was some depth to the characters. The surprising ending was also a big of a let down because you don't know what happens to the main characters, so the director really is at fault. Maybe that explains the terrible box office takings! Anyway, it's worth a watch, from a dramatic point of view but the storyline really needed some more thought. Average!

Round-Up:

Kevin Bacon, 57, had a promising career after starring in Footloose, Flatliners, JFK, A Few Good Men, the River Wild, Apollo 13, Murder in the First, Sleepers, Hollow Man, Mystic River, the Woodsman and Death Sentence but it all seemed to go downhill after that. He's had some cameo roles in Black Mass, R.I.P.D., Crazy, Stupid Love, X-Men: First Class and Frost/Nixon but he hasn't really starred in a leading role for the big screen for some time. He has also had some success with the series the Following, which I personally haven't seen and he still is highly respected in Hollywood but he needs a major role to bring him back into the spotlight. This is the first major movie from Jon Watts so I haven't got anything to compare this movie to. He done a good job in terms of cinematography and the choice of actors but the storyline had to many gaps in it. .

Budget: N/A.

Worldwide Gross: $135,000 (Terrible).

I recommend this movie to people who are into their thrillers starring Kevin Bacon, Hays Wellford, James Freedson-Jackson and Shea Whigham. 4/10.