Dark Blue [DVD] [2003]

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Product Description ------------------- US crime drama directed by Ron Shelton. The film follows Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell), a veteran officer in the LAPD's Special Investigations Unit. Set in the spring of 1992 - just days before the acquittal of four white officers for the beating of Rodney King and the subsequent LA riots - Perry attempts to tutor rookie officer Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) as the city around him erupts into racially-charged violence. The cast also includes Michael Michele, Brendan Gleeson and Ving Rhames. .co.uk Review ------------- The Rodney King riots of April 1992 hang like a keg of dynamite over Dark Blue, a crackling tale of Los Angeles corruption that gives Kurt Russell one of the best roles of his underrated career. Adapted by Training Day ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000068C33/${0} ) screenwriter David Ayer from a story by L.A. Confidential ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004CXMU/${0} ) novelist James Ellroy, the plot finds Russell's rule-bending detective teamed with a promising young partner (Scott Speedman) whose ethics have yet to be tainted. Their boss (Brendan Gleeson) is a lawless maverick, manoeuvring the unwitting detectives into covering up a lucrative robbery scam, while L.A.P.D.'s Deputy Chief (Ving Rhames) campaigns to bring them all down. While adhering to familiar cop-thriller formula, director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) escalates tension with forceful impact, drawing a climactic parallel between the King riots and the fallout from Russell's cynical behaviour. It's a powerhouse combination, allowing Russell to find shades of complexity in a character who realises, almost too late, that he's a devil in the hell of LA. --Jeff Shannon