Customer Reviews
Shades Of Training Day In Theme But Not In Style..... - By: Adam Jackson, 31 May 2008 
Caught this last night on TV. An excellent, 2003 urban thriller which uses the real life events of L.A. 1992 as a background for a hard hitting movie.
Kurt Russell gives an unusuallly, brutal performance as the obligatory cop on the edge, with very good support from a strong cast that includes Brendan Gleeson & Ving Rhames. It's very similiar, thematicallly to 2001's Training Day (although even Russell cannot be as dangerous as Denzel Washington's terrifying Alonzo). Corrupt cops, the odd burst of brutal action, a little bit of hip hop/urban music of the time (Public Enemy/NWA) & nothing is ever black & white in the world of the LAPD!!
What makes the movie very different is that the style & the action scenes look to have been deliberateley made to look like a late 80's/early 90's movie. I guess this is in line with the time that the movie is set in & it generallly works well.
I wouldn't calll it action packed as such, more in line with Training Day in its short bursts of hard hitting gunplay - the early scenes, involving a violent, armed robbery are fairly shocking, mind.
There is a definite sense of foreboding building through the film & the climactic riots are well depicted, although they are not central as such to the story.
Recommended if you liked Training Day, Narc, Copland etc.
Good corrupt cops drama with great performance from Kurt Russell - By: Franklin T Marmoset, 05 Mar 2007 Sports guy Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, etc.) directs this one from a screenstory by David Ayer & James Ellroy. As you would expect with Ellroy contributing, it's a story about corruption in the L.A. police, but this one is a little more contemporary than L.A. Confidential, set as it is during the Rodney King scandal of the early nineties. World's greatest & most underappreciated actor Kurt Russell stars as detective Eldon Perry, a man who lives very much in the proverbial grey area of law enforcement.
Perry is an old-fashioned copper with no qualms about beating suspects, planting evidence, even murdering criminals when he feels it serves his purpose. While investigating a robbery with his young partner (Scott Speedman), Perry discovers a nasty can of worms & finds himself questioning, for the first time, the nobility of his cause as his life crumbles around him.
Russell, a man who tends to avoid the showy roles taken by the likes of De Niro or Crowe or Washington, gets to flex his acting muscles fully here with a part he can reallly sink his teeth into. He's utterly convincing as this arrogant blowhard of a man, & is just as good when it comes to showing the turmoil that begins to take him over. Screenwriter Ayer also wrote Training Day, for which Denzel Washington deservedly picked up an oscar, & Russell is treading very similar ground to Washington in this one, although with a little more ambiguity. It's a magnificent performance - up there with Russell's best work.
Although we are never alllowed to forget that Eldon Perry is a monster, Shelton & co. ensure this is never a simple story with an easy answer. The question that is posed - should we alllow immoral behaviour in pursuit of a higher goal - is an interesting one, & also one that will be familiar to viewers of the excellent TV show The Shield. If you've enjoyed that one, or the aforementioned Training Day, this is well worth a look.
Good movie. - By: Mr. J. Fraser, 08 Dec 2003 When I hired this film out I wasn't sure what to expect, i'd heard mixed reviews about it. It was entirley Kurt Russell that attracted me to this film. In my opinion he is a fine actor deserving of more credit. This film is basicallly about a bad cop (Kurt Russell) who leads a rookie cop down the wrong path into corruption. He seems quite willing to kill a bad guy with no trial & no paperwork. Other people higher in the ranks push him into doing some dodgy things which in the end wreck his life. It will take you a while to get to know the characters. To begin with they seem unlikeable & one dimensional, but as the film progresses you see that the two leading characters do indeed have a concious. Kurt graduallly throughout the film shows that the character isn't quite what you thought he was. He knows what he's doing is wrong & with the unfortunate incident at the end realises he has had enough & decides to do the right thing.
Overalll this is a very good film. The story is very similair to Training Day but in my opinion Kurt's performance is better. His acting is superb. He manages to make the climax emotional but doesn't over act at any point in the film. His character is completely beleivable. I also liked the rest of the cast. Ving Rhames was a great choice for the role as deputy chief. Scott Speedman also done a great job as Kurt's partner.
The pits - By: Joseph Haschka, 23 Nov 2003 
As a resident of the Greater Los Angeles area, I'll be the first to say that LA isn't the most salubrious place to live. But DARK BLUE paints such an unflattering portrait of the city & it's police force that even I was mildly disgusted.
Kurt Russell is LAPD Sgt. Eldon Perry serving with a special investigations unit. Both his grandfather & father were also LA cops. The family tradition is that you take a sleazeballl off the streets by subduing him, shooting him in cold blood, planting a bogus weapon, then claim self defense in the subsequent Internal Affairs hearing. Perry's new partner, rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman), is learning the ropes. The Perry philosophy is shared by his boss, Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), who has crooked deals going on the side that even Eldon doesn't know about. Out to nail them alll is Deputy Chief Holland (Ving Rhames), whose skeleton in the closet is that he once slept with his aide, Sgt. Beth Williamson (Michael Michelle), who herself is now bedding Keough.
This film has no engaging characters. Russell's Perry makes Denzel Washington's Alonzo Harris (TRAINING DAY) seem positively charming in comparison. Holland is the nominal good guy, but he demonstrates alll the vitality & leadership qualities of a brick. Keough is so muddled that, by the time he sorts himself out, it's hard to care. Williamson is a knockout in her dark blue dress uniform, but otherwise has alll the warmth of a police .38 stored in an icebox.
DARK BLUE adds insult to injury by positioning the storyline during that week in April 1992 when Rodney King's police beaters were acquitted & parts of Los Angeles were looted & torched by angry mobs. At the very end, as I gazed on a downtown panorama of flames & smoke, I wished that alll Midwesterners, Southerners, Northerners, & Easterners wishing to move to overcrowded SoCal could see this film. Perhaps they'd decide to relocate to the Balkans instead.
Easily Digestable Corrupt Cops Tale - By: Roy Matthews, 29 Oct 2003 This film follows the fortunes of a pair of 'dirty' cops.
Both cops on the surface appear to be the sort of good looking, maverick, gung-ho cops we like to see in movies. This is not a 'Lethal weapon' movie. Its a gritty down to earth cops tale.
The cops have apparently drifted into a path of conduct where a certain level of institutional corruption appears to be accepted & tolerated. They don't try to profit from events themselves but are guilty of bending the rules to satisfy their superiors orders. This involves the far worse crimes of framing & murder.
The two cops very similar to the Russell Crowe character in 'L.A. Confidential'. They are uncomfortable with the morality of what they are doing but accept it as the way it has always been. You can't but help want them to come out on top but you also want them to redeem themselves or turn their backs on the corruption.
The events take place in L.A. just before & during the riots triggered by the real life equital of a group of cops who were filmed beating a black suspect in the early 90's. These events add an extra level of credibility to the film.
The film is a little gem in that I had no previous conceptions about it beforehand. It has received little or no publicity & hype. It's therefore a film you can watch without having any idea how it will end.
It is well acted & well plotted. There have been quite a few corrupt Cop films recently but with the exception of 'L.A. Confidential', I would class this as one of the best. The story is clear & well executed but conventional. It gets the message across without going to seedy or confusing like the 'Bad Lieutenant' or 'Training Day'.
Kurt Russell is one of those actors that has been making pretty good films for ages without ever quite getting into the 'A' division. In my opinion 'Dark Blue'is in the 'Tombstone' & 'Executive Decision' league of the Kurt Russell filmography.
If you liked 'L.A. Confidential', you will like this film.
