Street Kings

Movie
German title	Street Kings
Original title	Street Kings
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2008
length	107 minutes
Age rating	FSK 18
Rod
Director	David Ayer
script	James Ellroy , ; Kurt Wimmer , ; Jamie Moss
production	Lucas Foster , ; Alexandra Milchan , ; Erwin Stoff
music	Graeme Revell
camera	Gabriel Beristain
cut	Jeffrey Ford
occupation
	Keanu Reeves : Detective Tom Ludlow; Forest Whitaker : Captain Jack Wander; Hugh Laurie : Captain James Biggs; Chris Evans : Detective Paul Treble; Terry Crews : Detective Terrence Washington; Cedric the Entertainer : Scribble; Common : Coates; The Game : Grill; Naomie Harris : Linda Washington; Amaury Nolasco : Detective Cosmo Santos; John Corbett : Detective Dante Demille; Jay Mohr : Sergeant Mike Clady; Clifton Powell : Sergeant Greene;

Street Kings is an American thriller from the year 2008 . Directed by David Ayer and written by James Ellroy , Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Moss .

action

Tom Ludlow works as a criminal investigator in the Vice Division of the Los Angeles Police Department . He tries to overcome the loss of his recently deceased wife with alcohol. After Ludlow, single-handedly and without direct orders, ended a kidnapping bloody but successfully, killing all kidnappers, but the two kidnapped girls remain unharmed, he falls into the sights of internal investigating James Biggs. Ludlow's former colleague, Terrence Washington, also criticizes Ludlow's Wild West manner , which is soaked with vigilante justice, and his department, which combats the crimes in their area of responsibility.

When Ludlow Washington tries to give Washington a lesson, he is downright executed by two heavily armed gangsters with automatic weapons in a supermarket. Ludlow, who accidentally hit his colleague with a bullet in the shoulder while trying to help, is suspected but is covered by the head of his department, Captain Wander. Ludlow gets hold of the video of the murder, which shows him at the scene at the time of the crime. Although Ludlow is ordered to do desk work in the police complaints office for his safety by Captain Wander, he investigates on his own and meets the support of his younger colleague Treble, who was officially assigned to the case. Both reveal some inconsistencies regarding the real Washington killers and their motives. When the two try to convict the murderers, the young treble is fatally hit. But Ludlow manages to kill the two men. It soon turns out that these are undercover agents whose job it was to get Washington out of the way as it was becoming a threat to Captain Wander's corrupt department and was about to testify with the internal department Deal with matters that would have weighed down Wander and his team on allegations of corruption .

Immediately after the crime, Ludlow was mentioned in the news as a suspect. His two colleagues Santos and Demille track him down when his girlfriend, a nurse, has a gunshot wound and kidnap him to kill him. On the drive, his colleagues brag about having betrayed him the whole time and Ludlow realizes that Captain Wander is the mastermind behind the intrigue . After his death they want to attach the already planned murder of Washington's wife with the help of his DNA traces, because this came into possession of the DVD about the course of events through the compassionate Ludlow, who wanted to show her that her husband did not die alone Supermarket. After a first unsuccessful attempt to escape, he finally succeeds in killing his two colleagues and escaping. A little later, he confronts his third colleague, Clady, in the house of Washington's widow, when he forcibly demands the release of the record of the murder of Washington, and ties him up.

He drives to the house of Captain Wander, confronts him and learns of the extortion and bribery with which he was able to cover up Ludlow's regular violations of the regulations. Washington had to die because he wanted to expose these very intrigues. Finally, Wander reveals Ludlow the hiding place in a double wall of his apartment building, which houses the money he had accumulated from these corrupt operations. Ludlow shoots Wander and then waits at Wander's house for Internal Investigator Biggs to arrive.

For Biggs, Ludlow was the means to an end to get Wander. Biggs explains to Ludlow that he needs men like him who are willing to break rules in order to do the right thing. Finally he puts Ludlow back in the service of custom.

background

In 2004, the production of the film, The Night Watchman, with Spike Lee as director, was announced. In the spring of 2005, Oliver Stone was under discussion as a director, but he denied this. It was also David Fincher acted as a director for the film. Finally, the Belgian director Erik Van Looy should take over the direction, but preferred his production Loft from 2008 in his own country. Sean Penn should be one of the cast of the film, but could not be won for any role.

Filming of Street Kings began on May 21, 2007. The film was shot in Los Angeles . It premiered in Hollywood on April 3, 2008 . It was released in US cinemas on April 11, 2008. The film opened in Germany and Switzerland on April 17, 2008, and was shown in Austria on June 27, 2008. With a budget of around US $ 20 million , Street Kings grossed over US $ 58 million as of May 5, 2008, including around US $ 26.4 million in US cinemas.

James Ellroy wrote the script back in the mid-1990s and was inspired by the OJ Simpson trial .

In contrast to the English-language theatrical version, the German version was not cut. This is the scene in which Ludlow hits a shovel in the head of his adversary. However, this cannot be seen in the official English version either, only in an earlier version before the film was presented to the MPAA .

Detective Cosmo Santos lets out a Wilhelm scream while being shot by Detective Tom Ludlow .

Reviews

Jim Emerson wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on April 11, 2008 that the film was a bloodless attempt to build on the great action films of the 1980s and early 1990s with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis . He compared him to show girls . The director focuses on car chases and shootings, but sometimes he loses spatial relationships and you can't tell who is where.

Kirk Honeycutt wrote in The Hollywood Reporter on April 4, 2008 that the film combines fast-paced action with "sharp dialogue" and "colorful", "rock solid" characters. The twists and turns of the plot are improbable, but smart.

Emanuel Levy wrote on emanuellevy.com that the film shows Los Angeles as a city of contrasts and the tragic consequences of actions. Unlike many “urban thrillers”, it is realistic and addresses current political issues. The title describes well the character of the protagonist, who acts like a king of the streets and protector of society.

The film magazine Cinema said: “No question about it,“ Street Kings ”primarily caters to the action audience with its lurid shooting scenes. At the same time, however, the film is a socially critical drama about racism, violence and counter-violence in a brutal environment in which the law of the fittest reigns alone. That is not a pleasant look at the USA today, but definitely a realistic one. "

The lexicon of international films judged: "Cop thriller full of film noir quotes, which admittedly serves the genre rules, but is too implausible in terms of dramaturgy and character drawings to build up tension."

continuation

In 2011, Street Kings 2: Motor City, a sequel produced directly for the DVD market, was staged. The male lead took over Ray Liotta . The American Chris Fisher directed the film. The actor Clifton Powell can be seen in his role from the first part.