Street Kings
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Street Kings

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Street Kings (originally titled The Night Watchman) has had Spike Lee and Oliver Stone attached to direct in the past but eventually landed with the writer of Training Day. The script is co-authored by written by modern crime writing great James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia).

Set on the mean streets of LA, this hardnosed crime drama stars Keanu Reeves as Tom Ludlow, an LAPD veteran. Ludlow's life becomes cheerless and dark after the death of his beloved wife. After being framed for murder by those close to him, he is forced to go up against corrupt cop culture. Getting entangled as he tries to prove his innocence, Ludlow tries to find meaning in a world that is increasingly controlled by outside forces. More

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2008Rating: R16, Violence & Offensive Language109 minsUSA
CrimeDramaThriller
Director:
David Ayer ('Harsh Times')
Writer:
James EllroyJamie MossKurt Wimmer
Cast:
Keanu ReevesForest WhitakerHugh LaurieChris EvansCommonNaomie Harris

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Street Kings | Reviews

36%152 reviews

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Flicks, Andrew Hedley

Flicks, Andrew Hedley

It’s been a while since we’ve had a decent LAPD drama. Street Kings provides a welcome return to the slums of South Central, where gangsters, pimps and corrupt policemen roam amongst the convenience stores and chicken-wire fences.

Full review
Variety

Variety

Brutal look at police corruption that allows director David Ayer and "L.A. Confidential" author James Ellroy to pool their deeply cynical insights.

Full review
USA Today

USA Today

Wastes a moderately intriguing premise by filling it with laughably clichéd dialogue, one-dimensional characters and implausible turns of events.

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The New York Times

The New York Times

It’s easy to laugh at “Street Kings” for its bigger than big emotions, its preposterously kinky narrative turns and overwrought jawing and yowling, but there’s no doubt that it also keeps you watching, really watching, all the way to the end.

Full review
Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Reporter

"Kings" covers familiar territory but does so with ruthless efficiency, intense performances and a densely packed plot designed to highlight the moral issues that most concern Ayer and Ellroy.

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Premiere Magazine

Premiere Magazine

If you're looking for some big, stupid fun, you could do worse than Street Kings.

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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

In Ellroy's original scenario "Street Kings" was a period piece, set in the 1990s just after the Rodney King riots. I wonder if it would've made more sense that way. As is, it unfolds in a present that feels dislocated and artificial, where everybody talks fancy-gangster talk while turning the mean streets even meaner.

Full review
Empire Magazine

Empire Magazine

Another mean, violent and decently acted slab of Ellroy-flavoured criminality, with an impressively battered Keanu Reeves, but Ayers is no Curtis Hanson.

Full review

Street Kings | Release Details

Street Kings is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Prime Video and Apple TV and Disney+.

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