Review

Review Date: 23-February-03
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Dark Blue (2003)

I don't like cop shows or cop movies. I don't even like thinking about cops. No, I'm not trying to repress the memory of a girlish crush on Erik Estrada or the day I stepped in a horse patty in the middle of the street. It's because I am a stubborn devotee of moral absolutism, of black and white, right and wrong, with nothing acceptable in between, and the very necessity for policemen strikes me as a moral conundrum that has no easy answer. Is it possible for these men and women to immerse themselves in crime, violence, and corruption and keep themselves clean? How do they resist the perverting influence of their power over others? How can they adhere to the letter of the law (which is a shifty thing in itself) each and every day, in all types of situations? And can we rightly expect them to put the law above all other considerations, including their animal instincts and their comrades in arms?

The other reason why I don't like cop shows and movies is because they use the moral ambiguity not as a starting point for thoughtful drama, but to spice up the characters with a dash of titillation: tough talking, edge living, cynical guys who like guns and violence and have some justification for using them are, in America, one of the accepted varieties of cool. (Heck, let's face it, even guys who like guns and violence but don't have some justification for using them are one of the accepted varieties of cool.) Thus we have Michael Chiklis winning a Golden Globe last month for playing a rabid, no-holds-barred cop on FX's "The Shield" (which is proudly advertised as being too violent for network television), and Denzel Washington winning a Best Actor Oscar last year for playing a thug cop in "Training Day." (Everyone was buzzing about his charisma like they'd never seen it before.)

All of which brings me, in a roundabout way, to "Dark Blue," which I saw because I was prevented by time constraints from viewing "Gods and Generals," and I didn't want to deprive my multitudinous readers of a new Review. "Dark Blue" (written by the same guy who penned "Training Day") features Kurt Russell as an LA cop who has slowly let the weight of his job corrupt him, and who, on the eve of the Rodney King verdict in 1992, finds himself facing the consequences of his downfall. This man, Eldon Perry, seems to be doing all right, with a promotion on the way, an eager young partner willing to play by his highly questionable rules (Scott Speedman), and the favor of his powerful boss, Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), a sleazy bastard who is lining his pockets with stolen money on the side. Things start to go south, however (to Hell, that is, not Mexico), when Perry and his partner are dispatched to clear up a multiple homicide and end up a little too close to the true facts of the case for Van Meter's comfort. That's when everybody starts to manipulate, blackmail, double-cross, even murder everybody else, in a sick dance that surprises no one in the world of law enforcement, LA style. Just as the riots erupt after the Rodney King verdict, Perry is left with nothing but a realization of how much he has lost and how little deserving of forgiveness he has become.

In terms of continuity, acting, and direction, "Dark Blue" is a pretty good movie, and it attempts to counter the idolization of the bad cop character by showing that his way of life sort of makes him a loser (although I'm sure that Russell's character will still be viewed as cool, with his great hair and slick leather jacket and cockiness in the face of danger). But even though it manages to buck the standard cop trend in some ways, "Dark Blue" still left me cold, precisely because it goes too far in the opposite direction. Instead of neglecting or exploiting the moral questions inherent in policemen's lives, it oversimplifies them. This explains the presence of a number of superfluous characters cluttering up the story, notably an assistant police chief named Holland (Ving Rhames) and all of the female characters. Despite the fact that we are told (unnecessarily) that he has sinned, Holland gives off a stench of righteousness because is presented as the counterpoint to Van Meter and as a determined black man in a world where things like the Rodney King beating can happen. Similarly, the women (wives and a girlfriend/fellow cop) are no more than embodiments of the absurd belief that females are both inherently grounded and put on earth to steer men in the right direction. (The one who gets to call down the wrath of Hell onto Perry's head is not only female but also black, making her even more morally potent.) Not trusting to the self-sufficiency of a complex tale about complex issues like power and corruption and race, the movie relies on convoluted relationships between too many characters who come together to illustrate the easy bake moral truth that if you do bad things, you will regret it (or make others regret it). While I want to believe this is true, I chafe at the easy conclusion that the bad guys must be exposed, and God-lovin' black men are all we need to heal our racial wounds, and long suffering women will lift their wayward men to new levels of maturity --- especially in the grey, ambiguous world of the brothers in blue.

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.