| Street Kings | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | David Ayer |
| Produced by | Lucas Foster Alexandra Milchan Erwin Stoff |
| Written by | James Ellroy Kurt Wimmer Jamie Moss |
| Starring | Keanu Reeves Forest Whitaker Hugh Laurie Chris Evans Common The Game Naomie Harris Terry Crews Jay Mohr Martha Higareda |
| Studio | Regency Enterprises |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 11, 2008 |
| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $65,572,887 |
Street Kings is a 2008 action-crime film, directed by David Ayer, and starring Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, Forest Whitaker and Chris Evans. 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 Night Watchman.
Contents |
A disillusioned LAPD detective, Detective II Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), rarely plays by the rules and is haunted by the death of his wife. All of the cops in Ludlow's unit, including the unit's commander, Captain III Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), bend and break the rules of conduct on a regular basis.
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 inside, and then locates the missing children. Using a pair of rubber gloves, he then proceeds to cover up what really happened. 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 II 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 executed in the store in an apparent robbery, with Ludlow present. Though Ludlow is innocent, the circumstances can heavily implicate him in the murder. The DNA of two criminals known as Fremont and Coates is found at the scene, as well as a large amount of cash 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, which eventually leads them to a house in the hills where they discover the bodies of the real Fremont and Coates buried in a shallow grave. The condition of the bodies makes it apparent that they were killed well before Washington's murder.
Ludlow and Disco, posing as cops who are willing to take over Washington's supposed activity of stealing and selling drugs, are able to set up a meeting with the two criminals masquerading as Fremont and Coates. The meeting goes bad when Disco recognizes the two; he is shot and killed. Ludlow manages to kill both men and escapes back to his girlfriend's house, where a news report reveals the criminals were Sheriff's deputies.
Shortly afterward, Ludlow is subdued at his girlfriend's house by Detective I Cosmo Santos (Amaury Nolasco) and Detective I 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. 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 II Mike Clady (Jay Mohr), whom he later captures and places in the trunk of his car. Ludlow eventually learns that he has been a pawn in a plan masterminded by Captain III Wander. Ludlow shows up at Wander's house intending 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. Wander 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 shoots and kills Wander.
Captain II Biggs and Sergeant I Green, who were "investigating" Ludlow, arrive at the scene and reveal 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.
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]
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."
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 moderate financial success.[6]
The DVD was released on August 19, 2008, as a single-disc offering with director commentary, and 2-disc special-edition set with numerous documentaries, interviews and a digital copy of the film. It is also available on Blu-ray disc with all the special features of the 2-disc DVD version.
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