Cop Car (film)
| Cop Car | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jon Watts |
| Written by | Jon Watts Christopher Ford |
| Produced by | Cody Ryder Alicia Van Couvering Sam Bisbee Andrew Kortschak Jon Watts |
| Starring | Kevin Bacon James Freedson-Jackson Hays Wellford Camryn Manheim Shea Whigham |
| Cinematography | Matthew J. Lloyd Larkin Seiple |
| Edited by | Megan Brooks Andrew Hasse |
| Music by | Phil Mossman |
| Distributed by | Focus World |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 86 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $28,178[2] |
Cop Car is a 2015 American road thriller film directed by Jon Watts and written by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim, James Freedson-Jackson, and Hays Wellford. The film was released in theaters on August 7, 2015, by Focus World.
Plot
The film starts with two young boys, Travis and Harrison, walking through a field. Cursing as they walk, they come to a barbed wire fence and take turns climbing through it. While continuing their walk they come across a cop car in a lightly wooded area. Travis dares Harrison to touch the cop car. He refuses, so Travis touches it first, saying that if he does it so does Harrison. After realizing that there’s no one in the car, the boys try opening the doors. Harrison finds that the driver’s side door is open and Travis hops in. The boys play around in the car until Travis hits the visor and the car keys fall into his lap. He starts the car and the boys both hop out and take off. Once they realize no one is around, Travis gets back in the car and puts it into drive. Harrison hops in and they take off, driving wildly through the open field.
A cop car pulls up and we see Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon) get out of the car. He takes a sip of beer before placing it on the hood of his car. He removes some of his uniform and grabs a bag from the back seat. We see him lay a tarp on the ground and he pulls a body from the trunk. Kretzer struggles to drag the body deep into the wooded area and stops when he realizes that one of the shoes fell off the foot of the corpse. He drops the body into a hole before emptying a bag of lye into the hole. He starts walking back towards his car only to realize it’s no longer there. Kretzer makes a call to the police station, telling the dispatcher his radio is down and he can be reached on his cell.
Harrison starts playing with the radio before asking Travis for a chance to drive. They come to a locked gate that Harrison uses the car to break through. Travis tries to get Harrison to go as fast as they can before he jumps into the driver’s seat himself. They take off, just missing a woman in an oncoming lane.
Kretzer runs towards a trailer park where he steals a car. After driving through town he gets pulled over by a cop on a motorcycle. He calls in a fake 211 and the motorcycle cop responds to the call, leaving him free to take off. He gets a call from dispatch informing him of reports of a stolen sheriff’s car and tells dispatch to ignore the reports. After getting the other officers to switch their radio to another station, he tries to reach the boys who are running in a field playing with Kretzer’s weapons and other items from his back seat. The boys hear someone screaming from the trunk of the car and open it to see a man covered in blood. He pleads with them to help him saying the cop is the bad guy. After being unable to talk with the boys, Kretzer dumps bags of white powder in the toilet. He hears a voice on the radio and runs out to talk to one of the boys to find out where they are.
The man from the trunk has put the boys in the back seat and tries to find a hiding spot before jumping back in the cop car and driving up the road. He threatens the boys, telling them not to tell the man who owns the car where he is. Kretzer shows up and slowly walks towards the car. While talking to the boys he senses something isn't right and ducks behind the car.
The woman that the boys almost hit shows up and walks towards the car, screaming at the boys. She sees Kretzer who asks her to see if she can find the keys to his car, as he claims to be injured. The woman spots the man from the trunk and a gun fight erupts after he shoots the woman. Both the sheriff and the man from the trunk shoot each other. The boys manage to escape the car by shooting out the window. Travis has been hit by a ricochet from the first bullet, so Harrison gets in the driver’s seat and drives away with Travis in the back.
Cast
- Kevin Bacon as Sheriff Kretzer
- James Freedson-Jackson as Travis
- Hays Wellford as Harrison
- Camryn Manheim as Bev
- Shea Whigham as Man
- Kathleen Bentley as Trailer Park Lady
- Joseph Oliveira as Officer
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2015.[3] The film was released in theaters on August 7, 2015 by Focus World, who acquired distribution rights to the film on January 28, 2015.[4][5]
Reception
Cop Car has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 77%, based on 56 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Cop Car boasts a terrific premise and a grimly gripping opening act -- and for some viewers, that will be enough to compensate for the movie's uneven denouement."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]
Goofs
After Kretzer is shot he reaches up to the rear driver's side window, covering it in blood. A few minutes later as the boys are trying to escape from the back seat we see the rear driver's side window, with no blood to be found.
References
- ^ Henderson, Odie (Aug 7, 2015). "Cop Car Movie Review & Film Summary (2015)". Roger Ebert.
- ^ "Cop Car (2015)". Box Office Mojo. 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
- ^ "Sundance red carpet photos: Kevin Bacon's 'Cop Car' premieres in Park City at Midnight".
- ^ Kit, Borys (January 28, 2015). "Sundance: Focus World Picks Up 'Cop Car' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "The Trailer for Cop Car, Starring Kevin Bacon". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- ^ "Cop Car (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
- ^ "Cop Car Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-08-07.