Random movie Zach pulled up on our Netflix Watch Instantly queue. Here you go: Dirty.
Plot: (taken from IMDB's page) In a Los Angeles dominated by violent gangs and a corrupt LAPD Precinct, the dirty Officer Armando Sancho is haunted by guilt since an innocent old man was accidentally killed in an operation with his also dirty partner Salim Adel. The Internal Affairs is pressing Sancho, who feels split between the loyalty to his mates and his conscience, and he has to make a statement at 6:00 PM. When his superiors Captain Spain and his Lieutenant assign the two cops for an operation dealing drugs apprehended by the police and stored as evidence with a powerful drug dealer, Sancho feels that something is wrong and they have been framed.
Not a happy movie. You have been warned.
The acting was the strongest point in here. The supporting cast was alright, but the leads were stronger. Unfortunately they were given very little to work with, so they were really rather wasted here.
One of my favorite voices was in here. Thought I saw his name in the front credits, and then you hear his voice in one scene before you meet him. Yup, Keith David, very recognizable voice. Plays a bad guy (well, they're all bad guys in this movie - just some still have a conscience), but he can just keep talking and I'll be happy. He's a favorite voice actor of ours (Gargoyles, Justice League, Teen Titans, the English dub of Princess Mononoke, among others). Nice deep voice, one of those you can give a phone book to read, and it's all good.
Pretty good music on the soundtrack. Fits the mood of the movie very well. Small strong point, but there it is.
The writing was pretty bad. Pretty unbelievably bad. An unoriginal story, with unbelievable characters. Everything was over the top and very profanity laden. And I'm not usually one to have an issue with language (loved The Departed and Boondock Saints, for example). However, if that's ALL the dialogue is, and there's no development or explanation of plot, then it's pretty frustrating and a definite turn-off for a movie.
The story itself is very dark. I honestly don't mind that. There are some very dark movies that I absolutely love. (Godfather II, anyone?) However, the story needs to be treated better than this one. This one is all hopelessness and profanity and violence with nothing profound or meaningful to say. Darkness just to be dark isn't entertaining.
There were a few irritating camera quirks too. Not as bad as Green Zone, or the second or third Bourne movies (i.e. I didn't get a headache trying to watch the movie). Still, though, pretty annoying. Abrupt camera movements from time to time, odd coloring in some scenes, then the stupid jerky ghost shots... Yeah, not headache-ing-ly bad, but still nowhere near good.
Funny moment, though. Not in the movie, but as I'm reading IMDB about the movie, I started browsing the forums. Under the thread "I was shocked by how bad this movie is", there was the response which reads (in part) "...It was entertaining for me and that's the point of any movie. If any of you don't find it entertaining then go find another movie genre because it looks like u don't like crime movies." I find this hysterical because I didn't find it entertaining, but probably half the movies on my shelf are crime movies. And fully 1/5 of the books on my shelf are mysteries or crime books (the mysteries are their own bookcase). But I apparently don't like the genre of crime movies because I didn't like this movie. For anyone who knows me, this will probably be a funny comment too.
Overall: 2 of 5. Good actors, but lost amidst irritating camera work, bad writing, depressing story. There are better "bad cop" movies; watch one of those instead. Try Training Day or The Departed instead.
Not a happy movie. You have been warned.
The acting was the strongest point in here. The supporting cast was alright, but the leads were stronger. Unfortunately they were given very little to work with, so they were really rather wasted here.
One of my favorite voices was in here. Thought I saw his name in the front credits, and then you hear his voice in one scene before you meet him. Yup, Keith David, very recognizable voice. Plays a bad guy (well, they're all bad guys in this movie - just some still have a conscience), but he can just keep talking and I'll be happy. He's a favorite voice actor of ours (Gargoyles, Justice League, Teen Titans, the English dub of Princess Mononoke, among others). Nice deep voice, one of those you can give a phone book to read, and it's all good.
Pretty good music on the soundtrack. Fits the mood of the movie very well. Small strong point, but there it is.
The writing was pretty bad. Pretty unbelievably bad. An unoriginal story, with unbelievable characters. Everything was over the top and very profanity laden. And I'm not usually one to have an issue with language (loved The Departed and Boondock Saints, for example). However, if that's ALL the dialogue is, and there's no development or explanation of plot, then it's pretty frustrating and a definite turn-off for a movie.
The story itself is very dark. I honestly don't mind that. There are some very dark movies that I absolutely love. (Godfather II, anyone?) However, the story needs to be treated better than this one. This one is all hopelessness and profanity and violence with nothing profound or meaningful to say. Darkness just to be dark isn't entertaining.
There were a few irritating camera quirks too. Not as bad as Green Zone, or the second or third Bourne movies (i.e. I didn't get a headache trying to watch the movie). Still, though, pretty annoying. Abrupt camera movements from time to time, odd coloring in some scenes, then the stupid jerky ghost shots... Yeah, not headache-ing-ly bad, but still nowhere near good.
Funny moment, though. Not in the movie, but as I'm reading IMDB about the movie, I started browsing the forums. Under the thread "I was shocked by how bad this movie is", there was the response which reads (in part) "...It was entertaining for me and that's the point of any movie. If any of you don't find it entertaining then go find another movie genre because it looks like u don't like crime movies." I find this hysterical because I didn't find it entertaining, but probably half the movies on my shelf are crime movies. And fully 1/5 of the books on my shelf are mysteries or crime books (the mysteries are their own bookcase). But I apparently don't like the genre of crime movies because I didn't like this movie. For anyone who knows me, this will probably be a funny comment too.
Overall: 2 of 5. Good actors, but lost amidst irritating camera work, bad writing, depressing story. There are better "bad cop" movies; watch one of those instead. Try Training Day or The Departed instead.
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