Street Kings |  | Director: David Ayer
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Cedric the Entertainer
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
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Rating:  86 reviews
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2252609
UPC: 024543526094
EAN: 0024543526094
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/19/2008 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R
Street Kings is a pungent bouquet of corruption, violence, multi-ethnic mayhem, macho glee laced with macho angst, and fluorescently obscene dialogue from the mind of James Ellroy. Its hero, though he'd scarcely consent to be called one, is L.A. police detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), for whom life is a wound that won't heal and dealing out retribution to scumbags is the ongoing treatment. Ludlow's the star player--"the tip of the [expletive] spear"--on a team of detectives headed by Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Coach Wander relies on his boys to keep breaking lurid cases, usually through deeply darkside underground work, and raising his profile with the media and the department. In pursuit of these goals, nothing is forbidden except failure, and the truth is what you make it look like. This is familiar Ellroy territory, most effectively translated to the screen in L.A. Confidential (which should have won the 1997 Oscar, and would have if Titanic hadn't launched that year). If you know Ellroy's ground game, you can pretty much guess where Street Kings is going, and where it's been. Still, the twists and torques of its urban road-rage course maintain the centrifugal force needed to hold us in our seats (a tactical highlight: refrigerator adapted as rolling barricade), and the movie keeps bopping us with oddball casting coups: comic Jay Mohr and Northern Exposure/Sex and the City veteran John Corbett as two members of Coach Warden's gonzo detective squad; Cedric the Entertainer doing a nicely nuanced turn as a street creature; Hugh Laurie doing a less-hyper version of House, if House worked Internal Affairs.
The problem is that director David Ayer keeps everything intense. Dialogues are shot too close-up, line readings are too strident, the action is too nonstop slam. Recall Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential and the mind's eye summons up a whole spectrum of existence, mood, place, historical period, emotional investment; there's an amplitude to the picture and the sensibility bringing it to us, something besides the whodunit and the endless rap sheet of nasty what-they-done. Everything in Street Kings is one-note, and with Keanu Reeves playing it implosive and Forest Whitaker locked in crazier-than-an-outhouse-rat mode, that's no way to stay the course. --Richard T. Jameson
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Stills from Street Kings (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 86
 Good flick! January 27, 2010
Sean J. Kessel (Dayton,OH)
This movie has a good plot and your obvious turns during the movie. It is action packed and the acting is good. I would rate it a solid B.
 Easily one of the best cop films of the decade! January 14, 2010
OrangeCrush (Farmington Hills, MI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am one of the first people to admit how small a range Keanu Reeves has in regards to acting skill. However, as The Matrix proved, even actors with the skill level of Reeves can get a part that winds up being perfect for their style or range of acting. Street Kings is such a movie and its easily Keanu's best performance since The Matrix. In fact one could argue that in regards to acting, that this performance is actually much better than his performance in The Matrix. In other words one could make the argument that this is Keanu's best work yet.
Street Kings excels on pretty much every level. It has an outstanding cast, it has a great story and its has about as perfect a pace as a crime drama dealing with this subject matter can have. It opens up fast and strong and it never drags. Why this film didn't receive more praise from the critics is beyond me. It's probably because the critics are biased when it comes to Keanu. They don't like him, never have and never will, regardless of how great a particular movie or a particular performance by Keanu really is.
This film is basically a superior version of Dark Blue. If you enjoy crime drama's, especially ones that have intelligent stories and involve some serious gun play, then you should absolutely give Street Kings a look. The casting is just outstanding and everyone gives a worthy performance especially Hugh Laurie, Forest Whitaker and Keanu Reeves. It would be nice to see Hugh Laurie in more roles like this as he really was just brilliant.
The bottom line - Street Kings is easily one of the best crime dramas of the last 10 years and one of the most underrated films I have seen in a very long time. Yes, it really is that good!
Street Kings December 26, 2009
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tom Ludlow is a veteran LAPD cop who finds life difficult to navigate after the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him. Street Kings" is a solid, entertaining movie. Excellent performances by entire cast, which isn't an easy task; but this one has it. Never a dull moment; action just keeps on coming.
Be excellent to each other, or get investigated by Internal Affairs December 23, 2009
Jason (Backwater, Alabama)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
After an epic last hurrah during the performance for his senior year history class at San Dimas High, Ted Logan realized his dreams of musical success with Wyld Stallyns were not going to happen. Striking while the iron was hot, Ted called out Rufus on his lie, dumped that loser Bill S. Preston, joined the LAPD and legally changed his name to Tom Ludlow (Reeves). Relying too much on his past experiences with Genghis Kahn and Billy the Kid, in very little time on the force Ludlow became a hot-head with a quick trigger. After blasting a few Korean gangsters, the pressure - Internal Affairs is already eyeing Ludlow after Detective Washington (Terry Crews) makes a report to Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie) - heats up considerably. Add in an apparent friendly fire catastrophe and IA assigns Detective Paul Diskant (Chris Evans, Fantastic Four) to the case. It is only when Ludlow and Diskant join forces that they begin to unravel a pervasive level of deceit and corruption within the LAPD.
I know what you are thinking: Keanu as the bad cop? Trust me, I had the same reservations. This comparison made me think of Denzel Washington's character in Training Day, and despite the fact that Keanu can't hold Denzel's jock, the performance is decent, but at the same time shines a light on Keanu Reeves' limitations as an actor.
Fast-paced and gritty, Street Kings is a fairly enjoyable movie. Sharp dialogue and ruthless action mask the stereotypical police force conspiracy and generic gangsters. Forest Whitaker makes a solid if not unmemorable performance as megalomaniacal Police Chief Jack Wander. Jay Mohr, on the other hand, is at best irritating in his over the top portrayal of a lazy, desk-jockey cop whose gut and mustache reek of caricature.
The story is a bit too convenient at times, and far too predictable in others, but there are just enough surprises to make it a fresh addition to the police action genre. Somewhere in between director David Ayer's recent contributions - below Training Day and above S.W.A.T. - this didn't come close to an Academy Award, but it's a good enough excuse to eat popcorn.
Jason Elin
Not Extraordinary October 30, 2009
Debjyoti Guha (India)
'Street Kings' is a typical story of Cops using alternate methods to fight the crime. Result... some of the schemes does not look ethical. We are introduced to our main cast Tom Ludlow (played by Keanu Reeves) an old hand LAPD, who is haunted by his past, is questioned when one of his mate Washington (enacted by Terry Crews) gets massacred which seems to be a regular shoot out case. Circumstantial evidences leads Ludlow as the suspect. Though initially this case looked usual, further inquiry takes us deep into the world of corruption and manipulation of evidences to hide some grimy truth. This movie portrays how Ludlow questions his loyalty towards his unit who seemed to be behind the murder of his friend & how he ultimately deals with it.
Reeves' role as Ludlow was believable but not great. Though the movie initially starts with a pace, in between it seemed a little bit exhausted. I will not grumble that I got jaded with the movie but on the other hand this movie could have been more exhilarating, if we had the chance to see some character development. None of the characters were well explored. This is no 'L.A. Confidential' which had if truth be told had given us a hell of ride.
'Street Kings' is stand alone in its own way, but fails to give an everlasting impact.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 86
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