I would have been excited for whatever kind of film Oren Moverman decided to make to follow up his amazing 2009 film The Messenger, but making an LA crime film in collaboration with James Ellroy about the famously bent cop unit that was the basis for Training Day and The Shield? Now that gets the blood flowing. As you can see above the trailer is out there and promises a sun-cooked look inside the life of a truly wacked-out cop that works in a system that is structured to protect and justify him to an inexplicable degree, and yet he’s ready to tear down even that buffer and bury himself amidst his own misanthropy.
After an excellently cut first minute this Rampart trailer admittedly dissolves goddamn-badass-hell-yeah rock guitars (and Ice Cube yelling), but if you look closely you can see signs of a very naturalistic film that explores the range of LA from the most sizzling bright corners to the darkest, sun-blocked shadows. That’s definitely what I’m hoping for at least. Moverman made it clear with The Messenger that he knows how to employ the faux-verite documentary style of scene coverage that has grown so lazily popular (especially on TV) but with a sense of reality that empowers him to capture some punishingly real moments. The subject of Rampart is clearly more sensational than his more measured first film, but I suspect that armed with a cast that includes Harrelson, his boy Ben Foster, Ned Beatty, Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ice Cube, and Steve Buscemi he should have no problem putting something interesting on the screen.
Rampart hits theaters on January 27th.
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Whoa, Ned Beatty getting second billing? And Woody Harrelson in a serious, mean role? I’m interested.
I saw this movie at the London Film Festival. Uh, it’s one of those films that both my husband and I agreed on – in theory the film sounds good. In practice? Mmmm, not so much. It’s a very character driven piece – and you won’t necessarially connect with the characters. The acting was good, but the script? According to the Q&A after the film at the festival, the director noted that he changed quite a bit from Ellroy’s script. Ellroy was basically giving a blow-job to the LAPD (according to the director) and he wanted to change that. It was no collaberation, that’s for sure.
To be a bit spoilery:
if you think this will have much to do with the Rampart Scandal, I have some very bad news for you. It doesn’t. Outside of being mentioned occasionally, it has very little to do with the drive of the film, which is really one man’s breakdown after being such an evil cock all his life to all those around him (including his two ex-wives who are sisters and who he lives with. Really.). The Rampart Scandal is barely discussed and it’s difficult to get context on what it meant, except that cops were pricks to people and that this one cop did some specific “bad” things.
The person who came out best was Ned Beatty. Wow! Reminded me of how good he was in Network. Woody did his usual amazing job considering how constrained he was by the script.
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