There's a cop in NY who we are shown very early on is a through-and-through proper cop; yes he has killed in the line of duty but they were all good kills and no issues. Unrelated to this, a drug robbery goes very badly when a load of police turn up, and the thieves have to shoot their way out. Our good cop turns up to take action, supported by some bosses who are played by some instantly recognisable actors, and he is assigned a partner who again is played by the level of actress that is unlikely to be attracted to just a 'female sidekick' character. From the start it seemed pretty clear that this will be about one good cop taking on dirty cops and that at least some of the well-known actors will suddenly turn out to be baddies - I flagged this comment a spoiler because of that sentence, but it seemed obvious from about 10 minutes in, and indeed that is how it played out.
The film opens with an overly heavy setup of the character as a child, then we have an overly deliberate establishment of the character as a cop. From here we move to our robbery gone wrong. This section produces some decent scenes that have pace, actors from The Deuce, and plenty of functional style, and then this section ends in a way that absolutely concludes any lingering doubt anyone had about the assumptions we all made 10 minutes into the film. From this it pretty much jumps to the showdown with the entire corrupt system, which is then brought out with a tidy and well-acted shootout in someone's suburban home. In terms of the plot, it is entirely functional at best. When not as its best it feels lazy in the way it clearly understands the components of its genre but yet doesn't make the effort to do anything to make them slot together effectively - and I don't mean "do anything well or unique", I mean 'anything' because the final act in particular just feels dropped in out of nowhere.
It is a shame because there is a lot of talent involved here, and the production values are high, but really it consistently does the basics in the fundamentals. The narrative elements are signposted at least an hour ahead of arrival in many cases, and the lack of tension means that the majority of the fast-moving action sequences don't grip as they should. Everyone around the production and in front of camera do their best, but the film ultimately disappoints due to it never getting away just how little effort has gone into the plot and writing.
The film opens with an overly heavy setup of the character as a child, then we have an overly deliberate establishment of the character as a cop. From here we move to our robbery gone wrong. This section produces some decent scenes that have pace, actors from The Deuce, and plenty of functional style, and then this section ends in a way that absolutely concludes any lingering doubt anyone had about the assumptions we all made 10 minutes into the film. From this it pretty much jumps to the showdown with the entire corrupt system, which is then brought out with a tidy and well-acted shootout in someone's suburban home. In terms of the plot, it is entirely functional at best. When not as its best it feels lazy in the way it clearly understands the components of its genre but yet doesn't make the effort to do anything to make them slot together effectively - and I don't mean "do anything well or unique", I mean 'anything' because the final act in particular just feels dropped in out of nowhere.
It is a shame because there is a lot of talent involved here, and the production values are high, but really it consistently does the basics in the fundamentals. The narrative elements are signposted at least an hour ahead of arrival in many cases, and the lack of tension means that the majority of the fast-moving action sequences don't grip as they should. Everyone around the production and in front of camera do their best, but the film ultimately disappoints due to it never getting away just how little effort has gone into the plot and writing.