Reeves’s acting decent in new movie, but outshined by Whitaker’s role as supervisor
Posted on April 14, 2008
In the ’90s, action movies were a mainstay at the box office. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Snipes, I’ll even throw in Van Damme and Segal into the mix. Every week one action flick was released, and every week we got the adrenaline rush we needed as young men. Many years later, we find ourselves in the Computer Generated Imagery generation and the old-school-actionmovie days are dead and buried. “Street Kings” takes audiences back to the days of pure action movies. I’m talking about the movies where the hero is still sort of a bad guy, everybody shoots a million times but hits nothing, and where the story is so over-the-top and the acting is laughable to the point that you can’t help but giggle a little on the inside.
Detective Tom Ludlow (played by Keanu Reeves, “The Matrix”), a veteran of the LAPD, works in a special vice squad unit in L.A. He has been suffering from depression since his wife died. When his former partner gets gunned down by two gang members, Ludlow goes on a wild and reckless quest through the mean streets of L.A. in a pursuit of justice and revenge. Capt. Jack Wander (played by Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”) is Ludlow’s supervisor who must keep him from going over the edge and out of the attention of Internal Affairs Capt. James Biggs (played by Hugh Laurie, “House M.D.”).
I might be going out on the limb here, but Reeves actually pulls off a decent acting job in this movie. He, of course, still gets overshadowed by Whitaker. Chris Evans (“Fantastic 4”) does a pretty good job, but his character doesn’t last very long. Cedric the Entertainer (“Barbershop”) only has a two minute role and everyone else did their parts without any real breakout performances.
Yes, it might be predictable: Everyone you think is good is actually bad, and vice versa. This isn’t a fresh movie, but it is a fresh entry to the stale stock of movies that you see week in and week out at the local theater. A lot of shooting with limited hits: a good thing. A basic story that is made complicated: an even better thing. Absolutely no CGI: awesome. I’m not saying “Street Kings” will win the Oscar for Best Film, but it’s nice to see an old-school style action movie in a time when they are few and far between.
