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Davis Ayer takes his camera onto the streets of his hometown of Los Angeles where veteran LAPD police officer Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is faced with a situation that allows him to remove some of the city’s less lawful citizens. The audience applauds him as does his superior officer, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) who supports Ludlow’s uncompromising form of justice, which doesn’t involve any red tape and helps him talk the talk all the way to the top position in law enforcement.
Apart from doing battle with the criminals, Ludlow has to deal with his internal demons and resorts to alcohol to deaden the grief and frustration resulting from his wife’s murder and the lack of any convictions. When he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and implicated in the murder of a fellow police officer, he is forced to delve into the police culture that he’s been a part of his entire career. There are glimpses of a perfect world where people with righteous intentions work to make it a better place, and there are glimpses of a greedy world where many levels of corruption are wrongly justified.
Internal affairs investigator Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie enjoys playing devil’s advocate as much as he does in the television series House) asks Ludlow, ‘If you and Wander keep tearing down the law to go after the devil, what protection will we have when the devil comes after us?’ This is another film that highlights moral quandary and the blurred divisions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Despite the over-the-top ending, the film takes the audience on an exciting journey and poses interesting ethical questions.
Directed by Davis Ayer. Rated MA.
