National Security (film)
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| National Security | |
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 Poster for the movie National Security. |
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| Directed by | Dennis Dugan |
| Produced by | Moritz Borman, Martin Lawrence, Peaches Davis, Nigel Sinclair, Jeff Kwatinetz |
| Written by | Jay Scherick, David Ronn |
| Starring | Martin Lawrence, Steve Zahn |
| Music by | Randy Edelman |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 17, 2003 |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
National Security (2003) is a comedy film starring Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn. The film was directed by Dennis Dugan who has directed other films as well as many television shows. In addition to Lawrence and Zahn, National Security boasts an additional cast of Bill Duke, Eric Roberts, Colm Feore, Matt McCoy, and others.
The film was released in January 2003 and went on to gross over thirty-five million dollars at the box office. It is one of Lawrence's poorest performing films to date. It has made millions more in rentals in the United States.
The film was shot at various locations in California. The locations include Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Clarita.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins showing thugs breaking and entering a warehouse for unknown reasons. After they smash the lock by freezing it and using a hammer on it. The alarm call is sent out to the cops, but is then cancelled, but Hank (Zahn) and his partner Charlie decide to check it out anyway. They discover the broken door and request backup, but rather than wait, they venture in. They split up to search the place, but while Hank searches the upstairs floor, Charlie comes under fire. When Hank reaches his partners location however, Charlie is shot and killed by an unknown assailant with the thugs, who Hank couldn't properly see. The thugs drive away, leaving Hank in a state of shock, seeing his partner die and being unable to do anything to save him.
We then switch to Earl Montgomery (Lawrence) who is taking a Police Academy test to become a police officer. He does excellently, although he intentionally misses a target portraying an armed perp, claiming he is only defending himself against the 4 white people surrounding him (Earl shoots these targets).
We switch back to Hank, who is at Charlie's funeral. He wants in on the investigation into who killed him, but is refused because he is a uniform, not a detective, and the thugs made off with $800,000 woth of computer chips, and thus that case gets more priority than a cop killer case. Hank walks off annoyed, but the police chief promises him they'll find the killer.
Back with Earl, he laughs at another trainee's apparently 'bad' driving skills (though the trainer commends him), and sparks a rivalry with the head trainer, who takes over the perp driver for the next test, where Earl must capture the perp. Earl is discovered to be a wannabe stunt driver when he jumps the police car through one of the buildings to continue chase, scaring the perp driver/head trainee out of the car and forcing him to run, but Earl smacks him down with the police car door. The police car, without a driver, drives into the barrels and blows up. Earl is promptly ejected from the Academy.
The two finally meet when Hank spots Earl suspiciously sticking his arm into a locked car (although the car does belong to Earl), and Earl immideatly annoys Hank to the point of which he tries to arrest Earl, but a bumblebee comes along and Earl, being allergic to bees, has Hank swat it away. However, someone films the whole scene and forward it to the police, claiming it was assault. Things turn from bad to worse when shots of Earl are taken with severe bruising (actually swellings caused by bumblebee stings), and Hank is forced to turn in his badge, and is incercerated for six months following assault charges. By his request, Hank serves his sentence in solitary confinement. After he gets out, he becomes what he has laughed at all his life - a security guard.
Despite this, Hank continues his investigation as best as he can (no longer LAPD, he has less access to crime info), giving a description of a tattoo he saw on the killer's wrist, but turns up dry. While on duty, however, he catches word of a silent alarm at a beverage warehouse, which like the original warehouse (where the chips were stolen), ends up being cancelled shortly after. Hank immediately goes to investigate.
Ironically enough, Earl is also a security guard, working at the beverage warehouse, and while attempting to have fun with Lola, he hears gunshots, noticing another security guard firing at several perps,l though doesn't realize it's Hank. Hank is eventually held at gunpoint by a perp and discovers the killers name - Nash, but before Nash kills Hank, Earl provides covering fire and allows Hank to get away. They eventuall y end up side by side, and put aside their differences to get the thugs. They escape in a van with unknown crates, and although Hank and Earl give chase, LAPD pulls the two over and detains them, allowing Nash to escape.
Earl, however, as payment for Hank saving him, drops the assault charges, thus allowing both of them to go free. Together, both now having personal vendettas against Nash (although Earl's is somewhat less of a vendetta than Hank's), they are given permission to look into the case, and the first piece of evidence is the mobile phone the thugs dropped at the beverage warehouse (Hank picks it up before the chase), and they find out that they rented a 'big red truck'. They find a red 18-wheeler, but ironically, the actual truck rented is white, and says 'BIG RED TRUCK' on the side. they spot it getting away, and secretly jump on the back, and eventually get inside, where the van the thugs used at the both warehouse heists is located, along with the mysterious package. They take the van, and inadvertently drive it right off the freeway, making it land on a garbage ship. They dicove that the packages are actually beer kegs, but upon taking it to a foundry, a worker informs them that it is actually an 'aerospace alloy', worth millions.
They store the van and the kegs at Hank's ex-girlfriend's house, and Earl promises to tell her the truth about the assault charges, but when he discovers the girl is mixed race, he holds off, leading to an argument. She forces the both of them out. Earl has pushed Hank too far, and really hits him, punching him straight in the jaw and walking away. But pretty soon after, Hank is arrested for a shootout at the impound, but Earl comes at the last second and saves Hank, before punching him in the face for the earlier attack. They escape, only to discover someone has put an APb on the both of them for the shootout at the bridge. They realise that someone on the inside is working for Nash and must have been told that they took the van. They then discover the car they are driving is stolen, and ditch it while in the car wash, and hitch a ride to the van owners house. Hank and Earl talk about Charlie's death while on the opposite rooftop, and Earl realises why it is personal, thus making friends with Hank. Earl lies and tells him he's gonna get something to eat, but breaks into the house instead. Nash and pals enter the house, confirming the belief that Nash owns the van, and a shootout between Earl and Nash ensues. Hank reaches the house in time to see Earl get shot. He gives Hank 'Earl Jr.' (His modified GLOCK 18), but Nash escapes before Hank unloads the clip on the entire room. they discover that MacDuff is the dirty cop when he calls Nash and leaves a message that Hank and Earl were last seen at the impound lot. They trace the message to the marina yacht club, but first take Earl to get his wound treated. They can't go to the hospital because the cops are looking for them, so instead they go to Hank's ex-girlfriend. She reveals that the bullet barely touched him, and it's only a scratch. A bumblebee comes into the house, and Earl runs for cover, revealing the truth about the assault, and provoking her to possibly attack Earl (it is not seen but Earl references it in the next scene "Damn, she hits almost as hard as you, Hank!"). Tney then head off to the Yacht Club, disguised as waiters, and overhear MacDuff and Nash dealing with each other. They meet with the police chief, and reveal to him that all they know. They set up a deal with MacDuff to sell him back the alloy for $1,000,000 at Lunar Point, but Nash finds out early and grabs the police chief before he can call a SWAT team, and replaces them with his own men.
When the deal goes down at Lunar Point, they call in the SWAT, but they are revealed as being Nash's man, and the police chief is being held at gunpoint. Luckily, Earl and Hank initiate a shootout and he escapes in the van with them. But unfortuanately, Earl crashes the van, and they have to run. They shooter chasing truck, which explodes into a gas pipe, leading the tunnel the trio are running through to blow up, but they are able to escape. Hank runs off to kill Nash, losing his friends in the process. Earl goes to look for him, and the police chief takes cover and stays behind. Hank gets to the top of the cliff, but drops his gun, and notices that Nash's friend has a clear sight on Earl, so he screams out for Earl, giving his position away and Hank getting shot. Earl retaliates and kills the thug. He notices Nash is coming for him, but 'Earl Jr.' jams when he tries to reload, leaving him defenseless. He hides under a concrete slab, and when Nash walks onto it, he trips him up and kicks the gun away, leaving them in a hand-to-hand fight. Meanwhile, Hank, though injured, is able to reach a low crane, and uses the iron hook to smash the concrete slab, throwing Nash out into the sea and die (Something is heard to snap when Nash hits the water, so either his back or neck may be broken). But Earl is unfortunately losing grip of the clifftop because of Hanks antics, so he quickly swings the hook by Earl for him to grab, after a few failed attempts, Earl is able to jump off just before the slab falls to the ground below. Hank pulls Earl to safety using the crane, and they walk away satisfied.
As thanks for putting aside their differences, they are both allowed into the LAPD, and become partners. They find a man trying to break into a car, but Earl is confident he just locked his keys in the car, and helps him unlock it. The real owner then screams, and Earl, realising his mistake, shoots the back tire out. Unfortunately, the car blows up, leaving them both dumbfounded, and the film ending with Earl saying his catchphrase, "What the problem is?"
[edit] Taglines
- They only look like cops.
- He only looks like a cop.
- This January, a buddy comedy without the buddies.
- "What the problem is?" (Earl Montgomery's Catchphrase)
[edit] Facts and trivia
- More than 400,000 bottles of soft drinks and beer were used as background scenery, during the shootout in the warehouse.
- The DVD has an alternate ending.
- Earl's gun, "Earl Jr." is a Glock 18C with a 33 round magazine with silver-polymer frame and attachable light.
- Digimon Adventure appeared in this movie, in which Hank Rafferty's girlfriend was watching the episode "Evil Shows His Face".
- This movie came out before Martin Lawrence's next film Bad Boys II
