The last time Keanu Reeves was seen in Los Angeles, dressed in Kevlar and dropping lines like, It's OK, I'm a cop"" in that robot-surfer voice of his, audiences were at the edge of their seats, wondering how he'd keep a bus above 50 miles an hour. In contrast, those who watch his new action film, ""Street Kings,"" may find themselves wishing the movie would just slow the hell down, back up or even explode.
Judging by director David Ayer's manic shot pacing, it seems likely Reeves was typecast as ""that guy who keeps things from ever stopping"" and, consequently, the audience from thinking. Despite its rapid-fire pace, ""Street Kings"" shoots few live shells, relying heavily on blanks full of clichés from a police-corruption playbook.
In the film, Reeves plays Detective Tom Ludlow, a bipolar combination of Serpico and Russell Crowe's bludgeoning tough guy in ""L.A. Confidential."" With his shoot-first, think-never mentality, Ludlow mows down bad guys and assaults those he interrogates, using large phone books without hesitation. Of course, Ludlow's vigilante methods serve our own good, so a few dead bodies are just peccadilloes to Ludlow's captain (Forest Whitaker) who irons out Ludlow's legal discrepancies and showers Ludlow with lap-dog praise. Sadly, Whitaker gives another awkward, over-the-top performance in the wake of his Best Actor award and, by the end, it looks like Ayer told him to start bulging his eyes on every line.
The plot begins when Ludlow's former partner squeals to the higher-ups about Ludlow's questionable tactics. Ludlow hunts him down at a convenience store and moments after, through some freak coincidence, the store is robbed and Ludlow's partner is killed in the fracas. Police swarm in, and Ludlow is whisked off the scene and advised to destroy the security camera footage so he won't be implicated in a conspiracy to kill his partner out of revenge.
The rest of the film sprints towards its inevitable conclusion, with Ludlow crawling toward it 10 steps behind anyone who's ever seen a police corruption movie. As some interesting filler, Ludlow runs into a snippy police captain, played by Hugh Laurie (""House"") and a drug lord named Scribble who, ridiculous as it sounds, is played by Cedric the Entertainer.
Luckily, Ayer leaves little time to notice how little thought he put into his protagonist's psychology (like how Ludlow goes from brainless pit bull to compassionate crusader) or the predictable plot as a whole. If unyielding action is your thing, you won't be disappointed, though Ayer's rickety camera and quick cuts during fight scenes get annoying. Those who cringe at blood, decomposing bodies and the snapping sound of bones might want to stay away, or at least bring earmuffs.
Playing the squeaky-clean cop in ""Speed"" was one thing, but the complex, moral ambiguity ""Street Kings"" calls for is not Reeves' forte. Still, Reeves has built a kind of cult following that transcends bad acting and awkward dialogue and is, in fact, enhanced by it. Those looking for some unintentional humor in Reeves' deadpan, Speak & Spell delivery will find plenty in ""Street Kings."" In one scene, Ludlow pleads with his girlfriend to leave him alone for her own good. ""Everything I touch dies,"" he whispers intensely. Don't be so hard on yourself Keanu, some of us like it that way.
