Review of Dark Blue (2002) by Timothy S — 28 Aug 2014

"Dark Blue" is a gritty, tense police thriller that deals with corruption in such a realistic way that you sincerely hope it is exaggerated for the simple purpose of making an entertaining film.

Director Ron Shelton, stepping way outside of his comfort zone, has done just that and he shows a real flair for the genre after spending most of his career making sports movies. Still, Kurt Russell is the star here, and it's nice to see such a dependable actor get such a great part and do so much with it. He could have very easily taken it over the top and turned Detective Eldon Perry into a demented lunatic, but he keeps his performance and character grounded. He's not evil, he's simply doing his job the way he was trained by his family before him. When he finally makes amends at his promotion ceremony at the end, it's a great moment.

There are far too many needless subplots that tend to take the viewer out of the moment, mostly involving personal relationship's such as Russell's marriage breaking up, but screenwriter David Ayer wisely updated the film to be set against the backdrop of the Rodney King trial. That really gives the film a sense of urgency and immediacy, and once the verdict is reached, the finale is that much more explosive. I'm not sure how accurate it is having only seen the riots on the nightly news, but in this picture, they sure feel accurate.

"Dark Blue" is pretty typical of the police thriller genre, but it has its own story to tell and it does so with skill and packs a couple of hard-hitting punches.