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Street Kings

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Street Kings
Promotional movie poster
Directed byDavid Ayer
Written byJames Ellroy
Kurt Wimmer
Jamie Moss
Produced byLucas Foster
Alexandra Milchan
Erwin Stoff
StarringKeanu Reeves
Forest Whitaker
Hugh Laurie
Chris Evans
Common
Naomie Harris
Terry Crews
Jay Mohr
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures (USA)
Release dates
April 11, 2008
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$60,665,656

Street Kings (originally titled The Night Watchman) is a 2008 film, directed by David Ayer. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie and Forest Whitaker. It was released in theaters on April 11, 2008. The initial screenplay drafts were written by James Ellroy in the late 1990s under the title The Nightwatchman.

Production

In 2004, it was announced that Spike Lee would be directing the film for a 2005 release.[1] In 2005, it was announced that Oliver Stone was in talks to direct the film.[2] However, Stone later denied this.[3] Training Day writer David Ayer took over the project.

On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Fox Searchlight Pictures changed the film's title from The Night Watchman to Street Kings.[4]

Plot

Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. All of the cops in Ludlow's unit, including their captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), bend and break the rules of conduct on a regular basis. Their intention is often to deal with crime in a manner that they perceive to be more efficient, which leads them to routinely lie, falsify reports and manipulate evidence to cover up for their wrong-doings.

Ludlow's former partner Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) no longer approves of the deception and has gone straight, reporting the problems to Internal Affairs Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie), who starts an investigation against Ludlow. Upset at Washington for "snitching", Ludlow follows him to a convenience store to confront him. However, Washington is executed in the store in an orchestrated hit, with Ludlow present. Though Ludlow is innocent, the circumstances heavily implicate him in the murder. DNA of two criminals known as Fremont & Coates is found at the scene, as well as drugs in Washington's car. It is assumed that Washington himself was corrupt, despite his seemingly changed attitude, and that he was stealing drugs from the department's evidence room and selling them to Fremont & Coates, who killed him over a bad deal. Ludlow convinces Detective Paul "Disco" Diskant (Chris Evans) who has been assigned to the case to pursue Fremont & Coates. Their search for the two involves some tough interrogation of other known criminals, which eventually leads them to a house in the hills where they discover the bodies of Fremont & Coates buried in a shallow grave. The decomposition of the bodies is so severe that it becomes apparent that they were killed a long time before Washington's murder.

Ludlow and Disco posing as corrupt cops who are willing to take over Washington's activity of stealing and selling drugs, are able to set up a meeting with the two criminals masquerading as Fremont & Coats. The meeting goes bad when they recognize Ludlow from the convenience store and then realize he and Disco are off-duty and seeking revenge. One of the impostors, Coates (Common), shoots and kills Disco by a shot from his pistol to the throat when he realizes their connection. Ludlow kills Fremont & Coates and escapes back to his girlfriend's house where a news report reveals the criminals were undercover Sheriff's Deputies.

Shortly afterward Ludlow is captured at his girlfriends house by Santos (Amaury Nolasco) and Demille (John Corbett), two fellow officers from his own unit who admit that they planted Fremont & Coates DNA and the drugs in Washington's car at the scene of his murder, to prevent him from testifying against them in Biggs's investigation. The two cops take Ludlow out to the house where the two bodies were found earlier, for execution. However, Ludlow manages to escape and kills both of them, then heads to Washington's house to take care of Clady (Jay Mohr), whom he later captures and places in the trunk of his car. Ludlow is also piecing together the puzzle as he goes. He eventually learns that he has been a pawn in a plan masterminded by Captain Wander. Ludlow shows up at Wander's house in order to kill him, when Wander reveals that he has incriminating evidence on just about everybody in the department as well as judges and politicians. With so many people in Wander's pocket he has been able to quickly move up the department ranks as well as bury his unit's corruptions. Wander tries to convince Ludlow that he is his friend and best officer, and bribes him with a large amount of stolen money and incriminating documents hidden in a wall of his home. However, Ludlow kills Wander anyway.

Internal Affairs Officer Biggs, who was "investigating" Ludlow, arrives to the scene and reveals that he used Ludlow to bring down Wander and get access to his files by opening Ludlow's eyes to the real corruption going on within his unit. As he leaves, Biggs tells Ludlow that the department needs men like him; police officers who are willing to bend the rules, but are ultimately honest at heart.

Soundtrack

 1. (00:03:04) Soundtrack - Ludlow Wakes Up
 2. (00:02:56) Soundtrack - The Kims
 3. (00:01:01) Soundtrack - Captain Wander
 4. (00:02:03) Soundtrack - Washington's Drive
 5. (00:03:13) Soundtrack - The Market
 6. (00:01:59) Soundtrack - Security Cam
 7. (00:02:06) Soundtrack - Funeral
 8. (00:01:07) Soundtrack - Ludlow And Diskant Alliance
 9. (00:01:40) Soundtrack - Chasing Quicks
10. (00:01:29) Soundtrack - Ludlow Talks With Mrs. Washington
11. (00:02:54) Soundtrack - El Sereno
12. (00:01:39) Soundtrack - Ludlow Visits Mrs. Washington At Home
13. (00:01:23) Soundtrack - Drive To Fremont And Coates
14. (00:02:50) Soundtrack - All About Weight
15. (00:01:21) Soundtrack - Diskant
16. (00:02:52) Soundtrack - Grace's Apartment
17. (00:01:04) Soundtrack - Car Ride With Ludlow
18. (00:03:32) Soundtrack - Ludlow With Santos And Demille
19. (00:01:35) Soundtrack - Wander's Kitchen
20. (00:01:41) Soundtrack - The Cookie Jar
21. (00:01:46) Soundtrack - Wander And Ludlow
22. (00:01:49) Soundtrack - Biggs And Ludow
23. (00:02:02) Soundtrack - Street Kings X

Cast

Critical Reception

Street Kings received mixed to negative reviews from critics. As of May 6, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes scored the movie at 34% (Rotten), based on 126 reviews.[5] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.[6] However it did obtain a more than respectable 7.2/10 on imdb.com, based on more than 12,000 user votes.

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $12 million in 2,467 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking 2 at the box office. The movie as of August 1, 2008 has made $61,766,112 in total worldwide sales.[7]

List indicator(s)

  • A dark grey cell indicates figures are not yet available.
Film Release date Box office revenue Box office ranking Reference
United States Foreign Worldwide All time domestic All time worldwide
Street Kings April 11 2008 $26,418,667 $35,347,445 $61,766,112 #1,880

DVD Release

According to videoeta.com, the DVD is expected to be released August 19, 2008.

References

  1. ^ The Night Watchman Movie - Keanu Reeves to Star in The Night Watchman (Street Kings)
  2. ^ The Night Watchman Movie - Oliver Stone May Direct The Night Watchman (Street Kings)
  3. ^ IGN: Stone Denies Night Watchman
  4. ^ The Night Watchman Retitled to Street Kings - ComingSoon.net
  5. ^ "Street Kings Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  6. ^ "Street Kings (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  7. ^ "Street Kings (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-08-01.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Street_Kings&oldid=231000398"