Review: Street Kings 2: Motor City

Members of a corrupt narc squad are being bumped off, and young gun Shawn Hatosy is put in charge of the investigation. He is aided in his investigation by veteran narc squad guy Ray Liotta (wading in very familiar territory), who after a bad drug bust a few years ago left him with a gimpy leg, has since degraded himself further by donning a dog suit as McGruff the Crime Dog, a mascot who talks to school kids...about crime stuff, I guess. Liotta was the partner of one of the dead cops, and refuses to believe his partner was dirty. Hatosy doesn’t much like Liotta’s interfering, nor his penchant for not often following the rule book, but eventually the two strike up a bit of a friendship. Internal Affairs, meanwhile, are breathing down everyone’s necks. Charlotte Ross (formerly of “NYPD Blue”) turns up as Liotta’s wife, whilst Clifton Powell and Kevin Chapman are among the dirtiest of cops.

 

The original “Street Kings” was a terrible film that had a pathetic screenplay, combining with obvious casting, awful overacting, and a shockingly revealing trailer to create an entirely transparent experience. I figured out who the villain was before the film started, something that had previously only happened to me once before (“Twisted” being the culprit). This 2011 direct-to-DVD sequel from director Chris Fisher (who has worked on the updated “Hawaii Five-O”) and writers Ed Gonzalez (a debutant) and Jeremy Haft (“Grizzly Mountain”) is smart enough to give us the identity of the villain fairly early on so that whilst it makes the film just as transparent, at least it’s not trying to make the audience guess whodunit. The result is watchable, if formulaic and unoriginal. Let’s face it, it’s very hard to do anything new in the corrupt cop genre, and this film certainly does nothing new. It’s better than the first film and “Pride and Glory”, but it’s way behind “Narc”, “Dark Blue”, and the granddaddy of them all, “Serpico”. It has seemingly modest aims and largely achieves them.

 

The first thing I noticed about this film is that it provided me with a possible answer to one of my main bugaboos in cinema, the amber-filtered lighting scheme in many (way too many) films these days. I’ve never understood until now why American streets at night are lit entirely in amber, but early on here we are shown a guy taking a piss on the street. There you go, case closed, thank you for that, cinematographer Marvin V. Rush. Filters aside, it’s a colourful film and not as murky as many video-shot films.

 

The second thing I noticed about the film (aside from the surprising absence of direct-to-DVD mainstays 50 Cent, Val Kilmer, and Cuba Gooding Jr- what gives?) is that it has a bloody good, bluesy soundtrack.

 

I also need to commend Ray Liotta’s performance. Yes, I know, I’m shocked too. He gives a solid, layered characterisation here that represents one of his only good performances since “Narc” (which was his only good performance since “Goodfellas”, except maybe “Turbulence”- hey, he was hilarious in it!). He’s an uneven actor, but when on target, a terrific one. However, watching him in this makes me mad. He’s too good an actor to be making direct-to-DVD films, though from what I can ascertain, he pissed his career away on his own. Shawn Hatosy is pretty solid too, but he gives off a TV cop show vibe to me, I could see him on a cop show surrounded by the likes of Kevin Dillon, Donnie Wahlberg, Christian Slater (remember when he used to be somebody?), and Zack from “Saved By the Bell” or something. There’s something a little bit lightweight about him, and next to Liotta he looks about 19 (Or perhaps it’s just that Liotta looks about 60).

 

There’s a particularly excellent cameo by Clifton Powell, who steals the film with his sleazy charm and presence. He also appears to be dressed like it’s 1973, and I kept expecting him to be flanked by Richard Pryor (It’s Kevin Chapman instead). Unfortunately, after a scene or two, he leaves the picture jarringly and all the poorer without him.

 

If you’re into this genre, you could do a lot worse...especially if you’ve seen the first film (which this sequel bears little relation to). It’s standard fare, but competently staged for the most part, and better than I expected.

 

Rating: C+