Review of Street Kings (2008) by Rob S — 01 Sep 2009

LAPD "Det. Tom Ludlow" (Keanu Reeves) is spiraling out of control. He has lost his wife to another man, and has taken to the bottle. He also rarely follows regulations, and has been known to beat information out of suspects.

In fact, his unit is known for covering up for all their wrong-doings, including the unit's commander (Forest Whitaker), who has taken "Ludlow" under his wing.

After saving two girls from kidnappers, and covering up what really happened, "Ludlow's" former partner (Terry Crews) goes to internal affairs, which opens an investigation on "Ludlow.".

When he hears about the investigation, "Ludlow" goes to confront his former partner in a corner store, only to get involved in an apparent robbery, but witnesses the two suspects hunting down the whistle-blower, and shooting him to death.

Eventually, "Ludlow" becomes a suspect in a shooting, and has to clear his name.

Yet another B movie recommended by Yahoo Movies. There is lots of action, a lot of violence and blood and mideocre character development.

Reeves performance is not the best. In fact, I would have to say that it's an 80 out of 100%. He seems uncomfortable at times in some scenes, and it effects his performance.

I was not impressed with the supporting cast. Many of which was poorly written. Whitaker does an excellent job as a guy who thinks he can put anybody in his pocket -- including superior officers to him.

There is a whole lot of plot twists, which are not spaced out well if you ask me. They come a bit too close to each other at times. In fact, they come so close together at times that it gets a bit confusing as to where the film is going.

If you are into action, this movie will make you happy. You get a whole lot of gunplay. However, a word of warning, there is a lot of blood. And when I mean a lot of blood, you get to see the results of a bullet strike on the body of it's target. The blood flows a lot in this one.

The soundtrack is completely forgetable in this movie. With all the action, I don't remember hearing any songs or instumentals at all as the movie progressed.

If you are desperate to see a movie, wait until you find this on HBO or on the Free Movies section of your On Demand service.