Street Kings (originally titled The Night Watchman) is a 2008 action-crime film, directed by David Ayer, and starring Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie and Forest Whitaker. It was released in theaters on April 11, 2008. The initial screenplay drafts were written by James Ellroy in the late 1990s under the title The Nightwatchman.
Plot
A disillusioned LAPD detective, Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), rarely plays by the rules and is haunted by the death of his wife, even though he has a grilfriend named Grace (Martha Higareda). Ludlow and all of the cops in his unit, including the unit's commander, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), bend and break the rules of conduct on a regular basis. Their intention is often to deal with crime in a manner that they perceive to be more efficient, which leads them to routinely lie, falsify reports and manipulate evidence to cover up for their wrong-doings.
The movie starts with Tom Ludlow waking up, having been drinking the night before. Working undercover, he meets with Korean gangsters (whom he believes have kidnapped two Korean schoolgirls) in a parking lot, who are looking to buy a machine gun from him. After a vicious beatdown, the Koreans then proceed to steal Tom's car. Tom however planned on this and has the cops locate the vehicle via GPS. Upon arrival at their hideout, Tom storms in and kills the four gangsters and proceeds to cover up what really happened before he rescues the missing children. While the other officers in his unit congratulate him, he is confronted by his former partner, Detective II Terrence Washington (Terry Crews). Washington no longer approves of the corruption and deception and has gone straight, reporting the problems to Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie), of Internal Affairs, who starts an investigation against Ludlow.
Upset at Washington for "snitching", Ludlow follows him to a convenience store to confront him. However, Washington is killed by two gangbangers in the store in an apparent robbery, with Ludlow present. Though Ludlow is innocent, the circumstances can heavily implicate him in the murder, which was also known as "wrong place, wrong time". The DNA of two criminals known as Fremont and Coates is found at the scene, as well as cash and drugs in Washington's possession. It is assumed that Washington himself was corrupt, despite his seemingly changed attitude, and that he had been stealing drugs from the department's evidence room and selling them to Fremont and Coates. Ludlow teams up with Detective I Paul "Disco" Diskant (Chris Evans), who has been assigned to the case to join him in his personal investigation. Their search for the two involves some tough interrogation of other criminals including Winston (Cedric the Entertainer), which eventually leads them to a house in the hills where they discover the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates buried in shallow grave. The condition of the bodies makes it apparent that they were killed well before Washington's murder.
Ludlow and Disco, attempting to go undercover as drug dealers (even though they are posing as cops), and assisted by Winston, are willing to take over Washington's activity of stealing and selling drugs and setting up a meeting with the two criminals, who are revealed to be the two gangbangers who killed Washington in a apparent robbery and they are naming themselves as Fremont and Coates (Cle Shaheed Sloan and Common). However, the meeting goes bad when the two criminals recognize Ludlow from the store where Washington was killed before Disco recognizes them. Disco then attempts to pull out his weapon before he is shot in the throat by Coates, who then attempts to persuade Winston to kill Ludlow, but he refuses to do it before Fremont kills him. Ludlow manages to avenge Washington's murder by killing both Fremont and Coates before he is too late to save Disco as he dies the same way as Wahington before Ludlow escapes back to his girlfriend's house, where a news report reveals the criminals (who killed Washington, Disco and Winston) were also two ex-undercover deputy sheriffs, (even though they are only mentioned as two undercover deputy sheriffs).
Shortly afterward, Ludlow is subdued at his girlfriend's house by Detective Cosmo Santos (Amaury Nolasco) and Detective Dante Demille (John Corbett), two fellow officers from his unit who admit that they planted Fremont and Coates' DNA and the drugs at the scene of Washington's murder, to prevent him from testifying against them in Biggs' investigation before Ludlow also learns that it was actually Wander whom Washington was giving up to Biggs during his ivestigation (which was only against Ludlow's unit instead of him), and it was also revealed that it was Dante and Santos who were stealing drugs from the department's evidence room and selling them to the two criminals who killed Washington, Disco and Winston. The two cops take Ludlow out to the house where the two bodies were found earlier, for execution. However, Ludlow manages to kill both of them. He then heads to Washington's house to take care of their supervisor, Sergeant Mike Clady (Jay Mohr), who steals the tape of Washingston's murder from Linda (Naomie Harris) and tries to rape her. However, Ludlow manages to rescue Linda before he captures Clady and places in the trunk of his car before Linda goes back to packing her things and moving out of her house which also belonged to Washington (whom revealed that he used to be Linda's husband before he was murdered in a apparent robbery by the two criminals who also killed Disco and Winston). Ludlow is also piecing together the puzzle as he goes; he eventually learns that he has been a pawn in a plan masterminded by Captain Wander. Ludlow shows up at Wander's house in order to kill him, when Wander reveals that he has incriminating evidence on just about everybody in the department, as well as judges, councilmen and politicians. With so many people in Wander's pocket, he has been able to quickly move up the department's ranks as well as bury his unit's corruptions and it also turns out that Wander actually paid the two criminals (who also murdered both Disco and Winston) to kill Washington and Ludlow all along. Wander then tries to convince Ludlow that he is his friend and best officer, and tries to bribe him with a large amount of stolen money and incriminating documents hidden in a wall of his home. However, Ludlow, in the end, kills Wander and he is now free from the coruption that finally ends.
Captain Biggs and Sergeant Green, who were "investigating" Ludlow, arrive at the scene, and Biggs reveals that they used Ludlow to bring down Wander and get access to his files by opening Ludlow's eyes to the real corruption going on within his unit. As he leaves, Biggs tells Ludlow that the department does indeed need men like him; officers who are willing to bend the rules, but are ultimately honest at heart.
Cast
Production
In 2004, it was announced that Spike Lee would be directing the film for a 2005 release.[1] In 2005, it was announced that Oliver Stone was in talks to direct the film.[2] However, Stone later denied this.[3] Training Day screenwriter David Ayer took over the project.
On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Fox Searchlight Pictures changed the film's title from The Night Watchman to Street Kings.[4]
Critical reception
Street Kings received mixed reviews from critics. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.[5] Many viewers praised the film for its numerous plot twists. On the other hand, Rotten Tomatoes's Tomatometer gave a 37% for the film, with their consensus saying 'Street Kings contains formulaic violence but no shred of intelligence'.
Box office performance
In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $12 million in 2,467 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking 2 at the box office. The movie as of August 1, 2008 has made $26,418,667 domestically and $35,347,445 in foreign box offices totaling $62,973,667 in total worldwide sales, making it a financial success.[6]
DVD release
The DVD was released on August 19, 2008 in a single disc with director commentary and special-edition 2 disc set with numerous documentaries, interviews and digital copy of the film. It is also available on Blu-ray with all the special features of the 2 disc version.
References
External links
