Rampart (2011)
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 108m
Director: Oren Moverman
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ice Cube, Anne Heche
Synopsis:
An L.A. policeman with a singularly immoral lifestyle and unorthodox working methods falls foul of his superiors when he is caught on camera beating a suspect.
Review:
Extraordinary character study, falling midway between the Dennis Peck of Internal Affairs and Harvey Keitel's character in Bad Lieutenant: he is neither an out and out villain, nor a conflicted, redeemable headcase. Much of the time he is remarkably lucid and eloquent in justifying what he does, while refusing to countenance any capacity for change and crying conspiracy on the part of his investigators. And as with Keitel, we follow him everywhere, in his squad car, which he miraculously retains even when under suspension, at home with his two wives (not very clear), with his mistresses, in bars and seedy clubs. It's a tour de force by Harrelson, atmospherically shot, mostly in close-up, with shallow focus and jump cuts galore. What is harder to accept is the woeful lack of clarity in plotting, direction and delivery: what drives all these women to jump into bed with him; why does he invoke Vietnam (the film is set in 1999); why, when he leaves his gun in the hands of a victim, is he not instantly implicated in the crime? Anchoring us to the protagonist's skewed, solipsistic, alcohol-imbued-nutrition-denied world view for the entire movie is ultimately its undoing.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 108m
Director: Oren Moverman
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ice Cube, Anne Heche
Synopsis:
An L.A. policeman with a singularly immoral lifestyle and unorthodox working methods falls foul of his superiors when he is caught on camera beating a suspect.
Review:
Extraordinary character study, falling midway between the Dennis Peck of Internal Affairs and Harvey Keitel's character in Bad Lieutenant: he is neither an out and out villain, nor a conflicted, redeemable headcase. Much of the time he is remarkably lucid and eloquent in justifying what he does, while refusing to countenance any capacity for change and crying conspiracy on the part of his investigators. And as with Keitel, we follow him everywhere, in his squad car, which he miraculously retains even when under suspension, at home with his two wives (not very clear), with his mistresses, in bars and seedy clubs. It's a tour de force by Harrelson, atmospherically shot, mostly in close-up, with shallow focus and jump cuts galore. What is harder to accept is the woeful lack of clarity in plotting, direction and delivery: what drives all these women to jump into bed with him; why does he invoke Vietnam (the film is set in 1999); why, when he leaves his gun in the hands of a victim, is he not instantly implicated in the crime? Anchoring us to the protagonist's skewed, solipsistic, alcohol-imbued-nutrition-denied world view for the entire movie is ultimately its undoing.
Country: US
Technical: col/2.35:1 108m
Director: Oren Moverman
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ice Cube, Anne Heche
Synopsis:
An L.A. policeman with a singularly immoral lifestyle and unorthodox working methods falls foul of his superiors when he is caught on camera beating a suspect.
Review:
Extraordinary character study, falling midway between the Dennis Peck of Internal Affairs and Harvey Keitel's character in Bad Lieutenant: he is neither an out and out villain, nor a conflicted, redeemable headcase. Much of the time he is remarkably lucid and eloquent in justifying what he does, while refusing to countenance any capacity for change and crying conspiracy on the part of his investigators. And as with Keitel, we follow him everywhere, in his squad car, which he miraculously retains even when under suspension, at home with his two wives (not very clear), with his mistresses, in bars and seedy clubs. It's a tour de force by Harrelson, atmospherically shot, mostly in close-up, with shallow focus and jump cuts galore. What is harder to accept is the woeful lack of clarity in plotting, direction and delivery: what drives all these women to jump into bed with him; why does he invoke Vietnam (the film is set in 1999); why, when he leaves his gun in the hands of a victim, is he not instantly implicated in the crime? Anchoring us to the protagonist's skewed, solipsistic, alcohol-imbued-nutrition-denied world view for the entire movie is ultimately its undoing.