A trio of violent crimes leading to death are intertwined in an effort to bring to light connected crime within the LAPD. As an L. A resident during this time, these were news headlines I vaguely recalled, perhaps cynical over local crime after the Rodney King riots. The deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas and the Nororious B. I. G. In L. A. are intertwined with the shooting of a corrupt police officer by an off duty undercover officer, and opens up scandal within the police department.
This is based on the investigation of real life police detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) and interviews he agrees to have with journalist Darius Jackson (Forest Whitaker). It's really dark and depressing, angry and violent, a hard film to judge because of its mood. It took a while for me to really recognize Depp, and it is intriguing to see him not in oddball mode. I found this to be a well-made movie, and can understand if not agree with decisions to shelve it then give it only minor exposure, hoping it would somehow disappear and not attract much attention.
The sinister presentation of corruption is so darkly dramatized that certain elements represent a supernatural horror film where the corrupt cops are presented as demonic tools and hardly human. Performances are so realistic that it's scary, and even though the conclusion is vague, it strikes a cord because it's a film that will make the attentive viewer really think about everything going on around them and question the obvious abuses of power.
This is based on the investigation of real life police detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) and interviews he agrees to have with journalist Darius Jackson (Forest Whitaker). It's really dark and depressing, angry and violent, a hard film to judge because of its mood. It took a while for me to really recognize Depp, and it is intriguing to see him not in oddball mode. I found this to be a well-made movie, and can understand if not agree with decisions to shelve it then give it only minor exposure, hoping it would somehow disappear and not attract much attention.
The sinister presentation of corruption is so darkly dramatized that certain elements represent a supernatural horror film where the corrupt cops are presented as demonic tools and hardly human. Performances are so realistic that it's scary, and even though the conclusion is vague, it strikes a cord because it's a film that will make the attentive viewer really think about everything going on around them and question the obvious abuses of power.