Un poliziotto dai metodi brutali (un Keanu Reeves bravo ed un po' invecchiato) entra nella squadra del capitano Wander (adoro Forest Whitaker) e riesce a risolvere un caso importante facendo una quantità industriale di morti; si ritrova contro un suo vecchio collega, che gli rinfaccia di muoversi al di fuori della legge.
La morte violenta di quest'ultimo, scoperchierà un enorme vaso di vermi all'interno del dipartimento di polizia.
Tanta azione (ben diretta) e violenza, ma anche un buon intreccio.
Dove pecca un po' è nell'eccessivo "spiegazionismo" finale, ed in alcuni dialoghi stucchevoli. L'ottimo cast copre comunque gran parte delle pecche.
Voto: 7-.
Tags: crimine, thriller, drammatico, polizia, Los Angeles, capitano, affari interni, poliziotto, criminalità, droga, corruzione, violenza, omicidio, mitragiatore, pistola, conflitto a fuoco, esecuzione, occultamento di cadavere, rapimento, potere, salvataggio, abuso di potere, tradimento, incidente, redenzione, cadavere, morte.
Whitaker, Forest
Nome di battesimo: Whitaker, Forest Steven
Data di nascita: 15 July 1961
Altezza: 6' 2" (1.88 m)
Coniuge: Keisha Whitaker::(4 May 1996 - present) 2 children
Ultimi lavori:
- My Very Own Love Song (2009) .... (rumored) [attore]
- Repossession Mambo (2009) .... Jake [attore]
- Where the Wild Things Are (2009) .... Wild Thing (voice) [attore]
- Dewmocracy (2008) (VG) .... (producer) [produttore]
- Hurricane Season (2008/III) .... Al Collins [attore]
- Kassim the Dream (2008) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
- Powder Blue (2008) .... (producer) [produttore]
- Street Kings (2008) .... Captain Jack Wander [attore]
- Vantage Point (2008) .... Howard Lewis [attore]
- Winged Creatures (2008) .... Charlie Archenault [attore]
Biografia:
Forest Whitaker has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6' 2", 220 lb frame. The athletically-inclined Whitaker initially found his way into college via a football scholarship. Later, however, he transferred to USC where he set his concentration on music and earned two more scholarships training as an operatic tenor. This, in turn, led to another scholarship at Berkeley with a renewed focus on acting and the performing stage. Whitaker made his film debut at the age of 21 in the raucous comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) wherein he played, quite naturally, a footballer. He went on to play another student pigskin player in his second film Vision Quest (1985). He gain experience on TV as well with featured spots on such varied shows as "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978) and "Cagney & Lacey" (1982), not to mention the TV-movie Civil War epic "North and South" (1985) and its sequel, the movie that truly put him on the map The Color of Money (1986). His one big scene as a naive-looking pool player who out-hustles Paul Newman's Fast Eddie Felson was pure electricity. This led to more visible roles in the "A" class films Platoon (1986), Stakeout (1987), and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), which culminated in his breakout lead portrayal of the tortured jazz icon 'Charlie "Bird' Parker' in Clint Eastwood's passion project Bird (1988), for which Whitaker won the Cannes Film Festival award for "best actor" and a Golden Globe nomination. While his "gentle giant" characters typically display innocence, indecision, and timidity along with a strong underlying humanity, he has certainly not shied away from the edgier, darker corners of life as his various hitmen and other menacing streetwise types can attest. Although in only the first section of the film, he was memorable as the IRA-captured British soldier whose bizarre relationship with a mysterious femme fatale serves as the catalyst for the critically-lauded drama The Crying Game (1992). Always a willing participant to push the envelope, he's gone on to enhance a number of lesser films. Among those was his plastic surgeon in Johnny Handsome (1989), gay clothing designer in Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter (1994), alien hunter in Species (1995), absentee father confronted by his estranged son in Smoke (1995), and Mafia hitman who models himself after the samurai warrior in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), among many others. As would be expected, he's also had his share of epic-sized bombs, notoriously the L. Ron Hubbard sci-fi disaster Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000). On the TV front, he was the consulting producer and host of a revamped Rod Serling's cult series classic "The Twilight Zone" (2002), which lasted a disappointing one season. In the early 1990s, Whitaker widened his horizons to include producing/directing and has since developed respect name behind the camera. He started things off co-producing the violent gangster film A Rage in Harlem (1991), in which he co-starred with Gregory Hines and Robin Givens, and then made his successful directorial debut with the soulful Waiting to Exhale (1995), showcasing a legion of distaff black stars. He also directed co-star Whitney Houston's music video of the movie's theme song ("Shoop Shoop"). Most recently, he scored with audiences helming the fluffy romantic comedy First Daughter (2004) with Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton. He is married to former model Keisha Whitaker and has three children with her. His younger brothers Kenn Whitaker and Damon Whitaker are both actors as well. Whitaker's multimedia company, Spirit Dance Entertainment, includes film, television and music production. Whitaker works closely with a number of charitable organizations. He has also given back to his community, serving as an Honorary Board Member for Penny Lane, an organization that provides assistance to abused teenagers, the Human Rights Watch and The Hope North organization.
Trivia random: Attended University of Southern California (USC) School of Theater.
Citazione random: (On choosing studio or independent films) "I go back and forth between indie and studio because I feel like it, not because I feel obligated to do one or the other. The only reason to make a decision like that is financial, you know, you can't live. That doesn't make my decision for me, I do what feels right for me. I'm not going to do a bad movie just because it's a studio movie or an indie film, and there are hordes of bad independent movies. People tend to think that indie movies are always good, but I've seen horrific ones, just as well as I've seen horrific studio films. So I just go by how I feel, it's the only way you can figure it out. Otherwise you get lost in the maze of trying to second guess the people, the studio, how you can make your career long or short. It's easy to get lost in this maze, called life, really, you know what I mean?"
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Reeves, Keanu
Nome di battesimo: Reeves, Keanu Charles
Data di nascita: 2 September 1964
Altezza: 6' 1¼" (1.86 m)
Ultimi lavori:
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) .... Chris [attore]
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) .... Klaatu [attore]
- Street Kings (2008) .... Detective Tom Ludlow [attore]
- The Lake House (2006) .... Alex Wyler [attore]
- A Scanner Darkly (2006) .... Bob Arctor [attore]
- Constantine (2005) .... John Constantine [attore]
- Ellie Parker (2005) .... Dogstar [attore]
- Thumbsucker (2005) .... Perry Lyman [attore]
- The Animatrix (2003) (V) .... Neo (voice) (segment "Kid's Story") [attore]
- Enter the Matrix (2003) (VG) .... Neo (voice) [attore]
Biografia:
One of the most inscrutable actors to ever hit it big, Keanu Reeves has been by turns adored, reviled, and grudgingly respected by the movie-going public. As the controversy over his talent rages on, his career choices and paychecks show him inching toward A-list status. Reeves, whose first name means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1964. His mother, Patricia, was a showgirl; his father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, a geologist. After their marriage dissolved, Keanu moved with his mother and younger sister Kim to New York City, then Toronto. Stepfather #1 was Paul Aaron, a stage and film director - he and Patricia divorced within a year, after which she went on to marry (and divorce) rock promoter Robert Miller and hair salon owner Jack Bond. Reeves never reconnected with his biological father, who is now in prison on charges of cocaine possession. In high school, Reeves was lukewarm toward academics but took a keen interest in ice hockey (as team goalie, he earned the nickname "The Wall") and drama. He eventually dropped out of school to pursue an acting career. After a few stage gigs and a handful of made-for-TV movies, he scored a supporting role in the Rob Lowe hockey flick Youngblood (1986), which was filmed in Canada. Shortly after the production wrapped, Reeves packed his bags and headed for Hollywood. Reeves popped up on critics' radar with his performance in the dark adolescent drama River's Edge (1986), but his first popular success was the role of totally rad dude Ted Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). The wacky time-travel movie became something of a cultural phenomenon, and audiences would forever confuse Reeves's real-life persona with that of his doofy on-screen counterpart. Over the next few years, Reeves tried to shake the Ted stigma with a series of highbrow projects. He played a slumming rich boy opposite River Phoenix's narcoleptic male hustler in My Own Private Idaho (1991), an unlucky lawyer who stumbles into the vampire's lair in Dracula (1992), and Shakespearean party-pooper Don Jon in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). In 1994, the understated actor became a big-budget action star with the release of Speed (1994/I). Its success heralded an era of five years in which Reeves would alternate between largely unwatched small films, like Feeling Minnesota (1996) and The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), and unwatched big films like Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Chain Reaction (1996). After all this Reeves did the unthinkable and passed on the Speed sequel, but he struck box-office gold again a few years later with the Wachowski brothers' cyberadventure The Matrix (1999). Despite his deadpan delivery style and reputation as an oaf, Reeves continues to reel in choice roles and fat paychecks. Whatever he knows, he's not telling the public--his self-deprecating interview tactics and mysterious private life provide little insight into his artistry. As far as Reeves is concerned, it seems, he's just a regular guy who rides a motorcycle, plays in a band (Dogstar), and shows up every now and then for a movie shoot.
Trivia random: Is very good friends with his Bill & Ted co-star, Alex Winter and has remained in contact with him. Keanu has also contributed cameo appearances and helped with a number of Winter's film projects.
Citazione random: [On River Phoenix] River was a remarkable artist and a rare human being. I miss him every day.
Salario massimo: $15,000,000 + 15% of the gross, per The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Street Kings (2008)
Regista: David Ayer
Scrittore: James Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Valutazione: 7.2/10 (12998 voti)
Durata: 109 min
Paese: USA
Lingua: English, Turkish
Cast:
- Keanu Reeves .... Detective Tom Ludlow
- Forest Whitaker .... Captain Jack Wander
- Hugh Laurie .... Captain James Biggs
- Chris Evans .... Detective Paul Diskant
- Cedric the Entertainer .... Scribble (as Cedric 'The Entertainer' Kyles)
- Jay Mohr .... Sgt. Mike Clady
- Terry Crews .... Detective Terrence Washington
- Naomie Harris .... Linda Washington
- Common .... Coates
- The Game .... Grill
Trama:
Tom Ludlow is a veteran LAPD cop who finds life difficult to navigate after the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.
Trivia random: James Ellroy wrote the screenplay in the mid-1990's inspired by the O.J. Simpson trial. Over the years, Spike Lee, David Fincher, and Oliver Stone were attached to direct the film at various stages of pre-production. Sean Penn was once attached to star. John Ridley contributed to an early version of the screenplay.
Citazione random: Tom Ludlow: [to Diskant] Hit me princess.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.