Street Kings Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Street Kings Blu-ray Movie Review

This decent "bad cop" movie is a notch below its contemporaries.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 26, 2008

Do the department a favor: wash your mouth out with buckshot.

Street Kings is another in an ever-growing line of movies revolving around corrupt police officers. Many have come before it, garnering anything from tepid reviews to nearly universal acclaim. Training Day, Cop Land, The Departed, and L.A. Confidential are examples of the more recent, and better, offerings from this ever-popular sub-genre that is becoming a staple at the box-office. Street Kings isn't a bad movie. It's technically sound, well-acted, well-directed, tense, and engaging, but it's also stale. That's really no fault of its own, though. It is what it is and it does what it needs to do well enough. The problem is that we've seen this movie before, sometimes done better, sometimes done worse, but at the end of the day it's a movie that belongs in the upper half of the "best-of" list in its genre, but fails to meet or surpass the above-referenced films in overall quality, which is no knock because those are some first-class films with several Oscar nominations and wins amongst them.

Unfortunately, bullet-time is not available to save lives in this Keanu Reeves film.

Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves, The Matrix) is a tough, street smart cop who refuses to play by the rules. After a set-up weapons deal with some Korean gang members goes bad, Ludlow tracks them to their house, kills them, plants evidence, stages parts of the shooting, and rescues two young kidnapped girls in the process. Soon thereafter, he finds himself the subject of an investigation by Internal Affairs. His Captain, Jack Wander (Forrest Whitaker, The Air I Breathe), continually bails him out of trouble, but when Tom's former partner Washington (Terry Crews, Norbit) begins snitching on Tom's methods, a confrontation between old friends is inevitable. When Washington is brutally murdered with Tom at the scene, the department covers up for him, including removing evidence that a shot from Tom's gun struck Washington, leading Tom down a path of further corruption, danger, and hate from both the criminal world and those in the force who would see him brought to justice.

Street Kings is a brutal, unforgiving look at police corruption that maintains a tight narrative and a quick pace, helped along by solid dialogue, a decent story, fine acting and direction, and several engaging action sequences. Street Kings is not a movie focused on violence. Rather, violence is the result of the actions partaken by the characters, and it's relentless. The world can be a brutal place, and rarely has a film taken such an unforgiving look at just how ugly a place it can be. There is a clear dividing line between action movie (something like xXx: State of the Union or Maximum Risk) and gut-churning, bullet-riddled crime drama, and Street Kings easily falls in with the latter. There is no incorruptible, likable action hero in Street Kings. Each of the characters, like the world they live in, is extremely flawed, and the movie takes that tone and runs with it, using language and disturbing violence to drive the point home. Movies like this do not feature "entertaining" action sequences. Instead they are poignant and disturbing, both visually and emotionally. The scene where a character is killed in a convenience store is completely unrelenting and hard to watch, and that proclamation comes from someone who enjoys movies like Black Hawk Down and Rambo. While those films, and others like them, frame their violence in a context of depicting it as an unfortunate necessity for survival, freedom, or destruction of evil, the violence in Street Kings is all the more disturbing because it seems so unnecessary, brought about by corruption, hate, and distrust, much of it amongst the kind of people so many entrust their safety to on a daily basis. Indeed, the point is driven home by a series of visuals depicting severe wounds to the neck, face, and head rather than generic torso wounds, so as to truly let the audience see the end result of the violence.

Like Cop Land, L.A. Confidential, The Departed, and Training Day, there is no shortage of good talent in front of the camera in Street Kings. Like the movie itself, though, the talent is a notch below these others. Whereas those other films featured the likes of Jack Nicholson, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Guy Pearce, Robert DeNiro, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Sylvester Stallone, Matt Damon, Ethan Hawke, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harvey Keitel, Danny DeVito, Kim Bassinger, Ray Liotta, Scott Glenn, Kevin Spacey, and Denzel Washington, Street Kings features Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Amaury Nolasco, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Cederic the Entertainer, and Jay Mohr. That's not a shabby list, but comparing it to the sheer star power and Oscar nominations and wins lining the shelves of the former, they pale in comparison. Once again, though, the cast assembled for Street Kings is more than adequate. In fact, I enjoyed Reeves' performance quite a bit, and despite the stereotype, he's a decent dramatic actor given the right material, and this is it. Forrest Whitaker, as always, offers a powerful performance, and he remains one of my favorite actors. Street Kings does feature direction from David Ayer, who wrote Training Day, one of my favorite movies that also features Denzel Washington's finest performance to date. His direction is fine. It's not flashy, fancy, or fantastic. "Workman-like" best describes it, but he retains a grittiness and sharp edge to the film, stylistically and thematically, without simply resorting to an abundance of film grain and drab, lifeless locations to get the point across. He's no Scorsese, Mangold, or Fuqua (the latter two highly underrated directors in their own right), at least not yet, but Street Kings is an impressive effort for a second feature film.

Street Kings Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Street Kings is yet another solid effort from Fox. Framed in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and presented in 1080p high definition, the title is not one that will sparkle and pop off your screen thanks to a myriad of colors and HD-friendly source material, but the transfer does retain a very pleasing cinematic look and feel that solidifies it as an upper-echelon Blu-ray title. There are times when there is a soft edge to the movie, but such segments are dwarfed by a generally sharp, clear, and well-defined transfer that revels in an excellent level of fine detail in everything from faces to the barrel shroud of a carbine seen later in the movie. Color reproduction is fine (the scene where Ludlow and Disco first speak with Scribble truly shines), and black levels are perfect. Exterior scenes are bright and crisp with natural color reproduction and solid depth. My favorite scene came in chapter ten during a funeral at twilight. That time of day makes for a great setting (ask Michael Bay) and it offered a breathtaking image that is so natural and cinematic that it blew me away and had me yearning to be watching this one on a larger screen. A subtle layer of grain is to be found atop Street Kings. It's generally noticeable in most scenes, but as noted earlier in this review, the filmmakers did not use it in abundance to drive home the grittiness of the film, but what is here is intact on this disc. Overall, Street Kings is fine high definition material that looks great on a large screen, and while I did not see the film theatrically, its style lends itself well to large screens and this quality transfer should hold up well on even the largest of home theater systems.

Street Kings Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As always, Fox brings Street Kings to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, and it's another winner. Music, by composer Graeme Revell, plays an important part in the movie; the film's score is bass-heavy with deep, penetrating lows that get inside your skin and add to the tension, grittiness, and despair of the movie. These lows are impeccably reproduced on this lossless soundtrack and home theater systems will be put through their paces from beginning to end. A solid surround presence is also apparent almost from the get-go. Not only does the track use atmospherics, the lifeblood of the surround speakers, to great effect, but loud, discreet effects are in abundance, too. Whether we hear a helicopter hovering behind the on-screen action, or the the sounds of the environment, something is generally happening in the back. Both indoor and outdoor ambience is great. Outside, the sounds of traffic permeate the listening area, while interior shots, for example in the police station, feature bustling office noises, like the sound of telephones ringing or computer keyboards at work. The convenience store shooting felt and sounded so real it literally scared me (partially because of the brutality of the scene and not just its audio presentation, to be fair), which is rare anymore. Like 3:10 to Yuma, Street Kings features realistic-sounding gunfire, be it the heavy shotgun and automatic fire heard throughout, or the cracks of single shots one after the other from pistols near the end of the film. The sonic realism of such scenes is a subtle yet important factor in driving home the gritty realism in the movie, and the sound designers did a superb job. On the downside, I noted an odd hissing sound on occasion over the soundtrack, and there were a few instances of booming, rough dialogue that seems to reverberate unnaturally. All in all, though, this soundtrack is a winner, and despite two minor quibbles, it's definitely the highlight of the disc.

Street Kings Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Street Kings comes to Blu-ray as a feature-packed special edition with pertinent information and little filler. Headlining the features is a commentary track with director David Ayer. Ayer provides a technical commentary track that delves into many of the nuances of the filmmaking process and also some of the basic technical details of filmmaking. He also discusses the themes of the story, motivations of the characters, and the look and feel of the film. Technologies employed in the making of the movie is also heavily discussed. His comments are straightforward and intelligent, and his track will likely be a hit amongst more technically-inclined viewers. Under Surveillance: Inside the World of 'Street Kings' is a picture-in-picture feature capable of playing during the movie on BonusView (profile 1.1) enabled players. Fox has wisely provided the material separate as well, accessible from the main menu. Playing them individually, the segments are presented in 480p standard definition and run for 36:48. There is some great material in here, ranging from a chat about the film's score and hip-hop music played throughout to a brief discussion on Chris Evans' firearms training. Playing the feature over the movie also provides viewers with a pop-up trivia track in between video segments.

Next are fifteen deleted scenes (480p, 12:20) with optional director commentary by David Ayer. Ten alternate takes (480p, 29:05) are also included. Street Rules: Rolling With David Ayer and Jaime FitzSimons (480p, 17:28) is next. The two travel through the Rampart division of Los Angeles and discuss its history and place in the film. It's a fairly interesting if slightly voyeuristic (thanks to its style of filming handheld from the back seat of the van) piece. L.A Bête Noir: Writing 'Street Kings' (480p, 4:49) is next. This brief feature intertwines behind-the-scenes footage with a discussion of why movies like Street Kings are popular and delves into the origins of the story and its evolution into what we see in the final product. Street Cred (480p, 3:51) looks at the kinds of people and places that inhabit David Ayers' stories and films, and the authenticity of the actors who portray the various roles in the film. HBO First Look -- City of Fallen Angels: Making 'Street Kings' (480p, 12:01) is your basic making-of fluff piece that isn't really worth watching after the fairly informative pieces that come before it on this set. Four vignettes that showcase the making of particular scenes, casting, themes in the film, and the reality depicted in the film, presented in 480p, are next. Included are Crash Course (1:28), Heirs to the Throne (2:15), Inside Vice Special Unit (1:42), and Training Days (2:26). Behind the Scenes is also a series of four brief featuettes that examine an aspect of the filmmaking process. Presented again in 480p, the options include In Training (1:05), Car Rig (1:13), Squibs (0:48), and On Set (0:52). Two 1080p trailers for Street Kings (1:20 and 1:45), and previews for Behind Enemy Lines 3, Stargate: Continuum, and What Happens In Vegas are next. Rounding out disc one is Inside Look. Presented in 1080p, viewers see a clip from the film Mirrors starring Kiefer Sutherland and directed by Alexandre Aja. Disc two of this set contains a digital copy of the film for playback on personal computers and select portable video devices.

Street Kings Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Street Kings is a decent "bad cop" movie that is more of a rehash of old ideas rather than offering anything new or groundbreaking. It does follow formula well, though, and as such is not a complete loss. The performances are fine, as is the direction; just don't expect anything more than a slightly above-average cop drama and you'll enjoy Street Kings. The movie is definitely for mature audiences who can stomach some hard-to-watch brutality. As always, Fox's Blu-ray release is up to par. It features a high quality image that is very theatrical in look and feel, a robust, realistic, and engaging soundtrack, and plenty of extra materials for the fans. Street Kings does not have infinite replay value, however, and the movie is probably best served as a rental for most and a purchase only for the most avid cop-film aficionados, and, of course, Blu-ray collectors.