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Dark Blue (2003)
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:73
Rotten:54
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Kurt Russell gives a good performance. Too bad there’s nothing here that you haven’t seen before.
Runtime: 3 hrs 56 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: There aren't many cops left like Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell). A member of the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Investigations Squad (SIS), veteran Perry is no stranger to the violence of the... There aren't many cops left like Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell). A member of the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Investigations Squad (SIS), veteran Perry is no stranger to the violence of the streets and the tough decisions that come with the job. He rarely questions the orders given by his powerful boss, Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson). When Van Meter's nephew, Bobby Keogh (Scott Speedman) joins SIS and becomes Perry's partner, the stakes are raised. Keogh, who idolizes both his uncle and Perry, is eager to prove himself. But the naïve rookie has no idea how deep the corruption in the department runs. Set during the racially charged days before the Rodney King verdict and the ensuing L.A. riots, DARK BLUE also looks at racism within the department through its focus on Assistant Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), who questions the SIS brotherhood and is determined to be the first black chief of the LAPD. Russell is a powerhouse as Perry, a man who has made some difficult decisions in the name of justice. Directed by Ron Shelton (BULL DURHAM, TIN CUP) and based on a story by James Ellroy, the film also stars Michael Michele, Lolita Davidovitch, and rapper Kurupt. [More]
Starring: Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Ving Rhames, Brendan Gleeson
Starring: Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Ving Rhames, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Michele, Lolita Davidovich, Kurupt
Director: Ron Shelton
Director: Ron Shelton
Screenwriter: David Ayer
Story: James Ellroy
Producer: Caldecot Chubb, David Blocker, James Jacks, Sean Daniel
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: MGM/UA
Reviews for Dark Blue
Dark Blue has a seamy slow-burn energy, charged by its narrative and thematic tie-ins with the 1992 Los Angeles riots and a dynamite lead performance from Kurt Russell.
So many things go wrong -- stunningly, breathtakingly wrong -- throughout so much of Dark Blue that the movie is, somewhat like a spectacular auto wreck, perversely fascinating.
...one of the most well-written and incisive entries in the good cop/bad cop formula of the recent years...
Once upon a time in Los Angeles, the air was dirty and the cops were clean. The only reason to see this movie is to see Kurt Russell again prove his consistency. Too bad there aren't Oscars for the Cal Ripken's of Hollywood.
a tough, but somewhat routine, corrupt-cop morality tale that generates a good deal of power by being set in the five-day period in 1992 leading up to the riots
Kurt Russell delivers the goods with astonishing simplicity and understated power.
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