'Dark Blue' is this year's 'Training Day'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

DARK BLUE (Rated R for profanity, nudity, graphic violence) Stars: A visceral police thriller whose impact is heightened by its realistic setting, "Dark Blue" is a story of racism and corruption in the Los Angeles police force. It unfolds in the volatile days of the Rodney King beating trial. Kurt Russell is superb as the tough-as-nails veteran cop. Ving Rhames and Scott Speedman co-star for director Ron Shelton. United Artists, 116 minutes.

Once again, a corrupt senior cop leads a young recruit down a crooked road — but this time the road ends in the riot-torn streets of South Central Los Angeles in April 1992.

Kurt Russell and Scott Speedman co-star as Eldon Perry and Bobby Keough, partners in a police force rife with racism and corruption. Their story unfolds in the volatile days while L.A. awaits the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial.

As played with passion and conviction by Russell, Perry is a third-generation cop who has come to relish the power his badge gives him over what he views as the scum of the streets.

As a hard-nosed member of the city's elite Special Investigations Squad, he's developed a reputation for his tough tactics and fiery approach to crime fighting.

But he's also been too willing for too long to assist his opportunistic SIS supervisor (Brendan Gleeson) as he amasses kickbacks and extortion from his army of snitches and informants on the street.

The crooked cops have been getting increasing scrutiny by an upstanding assistant police chief (Ving Rhames) who's ambitious to put a black — himself — in the number one spot with the LAPD and to clean up the force.

Perry's new partner, the impressionable young Keough, believes in the good police do — but feels peer pressure to go along with the more shady aspects of his job. Up to a point.

The film's denouement occurs in the violent hours just after the cops in the King case are acquitted.

"Dark Blue" is well-directed by Ron Shelton, a filmmaker whose strong reputation normally rests in his array of sports films, including "Bull Durham," "Cobb" and "White Men Can't Jump."

Taken from a story by James Ellroy ("L.A. Confidential"), the script has been adapted by David Ayer (who also wrote "Training Day"). But here he elevates the cop-thriller form through its potent real-life setting.

In a sequence brilliantly directed by Shelton, Perry drives frantically through the erupting streets while rioters pummel his car with bricks and baseball bats.

Hatred has boiled over — it's a most effective way to show the bitter crop that emerges from the seeds of institutionalized bigotry, greed and injustice.

Though what follows at the conclusion of "Dark Blue" is a bit too neat — the message remains powerful and important, the performances are heartfelt and affecting, and the action is visceral and exciting.

Rated R for profanity, nudity and graphic violence.