Review: Narc

Jason Patric is an undercover narcotics cop brought back into the fold after a past disgrace (something involving the death of an unborn child). His job is to find out the reason behind another cop’s slaying, and in this task he is to partner up with the dead cop’s former partner, Ray Liotta, a widowed man seemingly on the edge of literally foaming at the mouth, but also a cop who tends to get results. The thought homicide captain Chi McBride has in using Patric is that Patric’s descent into the seedier side of life means he probably has a few scummy contacts that might help in solving the case. But will partnering the troubled Patric with the clearly seething, violent Liotta do more harm than good? Patric’s wife (Krista Bridges) certainly has her concerns about her husband returning to such territory. Busta Rhymes has a small but pivotal role as a gangbanger who might know what happened to Liotta’s former partner.

 

One of the better cop flicks of the last decade or so, and one of the few that thankfully David Ayer didn’t have anything to do with. This 2002 film from writer-director Joe Carnahan (“The A-Team”, “Smokin’ Aces”, which I still say is underrated) is definitely light years ahead of “Training Day”. The big twist isn’t terribly surprising, but it’s not especially detrimental to the film. In fact, the only drawback of the film is that Patric’s wife needed just one scene where she wasn’t an unreasonable harpy so that we could sympathise with her concerns that Patric was headed back down the crapper. As is, we don’t see what he was like back then, and don’t see her as anything other than an angry bitch, which is a disservice to her and the actress playing her, Krista Bridges. But for the most part, this is pretty good stuff, with fine work by Jason Patric, Chi McBride, and even Busta Rhymes towards the end.

 

Far and away the most impressive performer, though, is a well-cast Ray Liotta, who at times can be an electrifying actor. He’s completely rabid and owns the film right from his very first moment, and he works well with Patric. I dunno if it’s his eyes (apparently prosthetic were also used to make his face look puffy, in addition to a weight gain), performance, or just his physical presence, but Liotta is seriously intimidating here. At any moment you are expecting this volcanic human being to erupt, and when he does it’s ugly, violent, and bloody frightening. Jason Patric’s character may have an ugly past, but just looking at Liotta, you know he has been through hell, and he gives a very strong performance here.

 

Carnahan (who probably hasn’t lived up to the potential shown here, it must be said) is an interesting visual stylist, and he varies things up here, making sure it’s not monochromatic. His films generally feature handheld camerawork, but Carnahan’s cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy (“Wanted: Dead or Alive”, and for some reason “Mrs. Winterbourne”) manages to keep a relatively steady hand for the most part. And the film has an interesting emphasis on texture throughout, whether it’s blood, dirt, fabric, or even the texture of a piece of paper, it almost looks 3D. Carnahan, like Neveldine/Taylor (the “Crank” guys) may take risks visually, but he’s no hack.

 

The film is good, solid corrupt cop stuff, but Ray Liotta gives this one a special lift. When it is his wont, Liotta can really be an asset to a film and that’s the case here. You can’t take your eyes off the guy.

 

Rating: B-