James Ellroy once told me he deplored most of the films made from his books, and I don’t think David Ayer’s film about police corruption in LA would change his mind one bit.
It has Keanu Reeves as a cop whose wife has been murdered and who decides to deal with the underworld trash of the City of Angels in wholly illegal ways.
Forest Whitaker is the boss who tries to protect him and has some guilty secrets of his own. Hugh Laurie turns up as the corporate arm of law enforcement and Chris Evans (the American one) is in there pitching, too.
There is absolutely nothing in the film that we haven’t seen somewhere before and hardly any of its cast gives more than perfunctory performances. Efficiently shot as it is on the streets of LA, it’s a bit like one of those thrillers you read on the plane that’s a full class lower than Ellroy’s best work.
Street Kings
Cert: 15
