Rampart
Directed By: Oren
Moverman
Written By: James
Ellory and Oren Movermann
Starring: Woody
Harrleson, Sigourney Weaver, Ned Beatty, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Robin Wright,
Ice Cube, Anne Hesche, and Brie Larson
Director of Photography: Bobby Bukowski, Editor: Jay
Rabinowitz, Production Designer: David Wasco, Original Music: Dickon Hinchliffe
Rated: R
Rampart begins with a series of profile
shots of police officer Dave Brown driving through the streets of Los Angeles.
Sporting a pair of black shades with gold rims and often one (and sometimes
two!) cigarettes in his mouth, we get a good look at a man who we can’t see
because those shades create a mirror. Who is this man behind the glasses and
why is he so angry? But you can’t explain what drives “Date Rape” Dave, a
nickname he got for allegedly murdering a known rapist. He simply exists in a
world where he believes his corruption is not just legally fine, but the invisible
hand of justice, where he is detective, court, and executioner, all tied into
one.
And
so begins a violent and often brilliant new drama from writer-director Oren
Moverman, who last brought us the intense war drama The Messenger. Here, Mr. Moverman has teamed up with the legendary
pulp novelist James Ellory (The Black
Dahlia, L.A. Confidential) to
bring us a story of justice run completely amuck, but without any heavy hand
giving us some liberal message about it. Rampart
takes it title from the infamous scandals in the LA Police division in 1999,
where the film takes place, but Mr. Moverman and Mr. Ellroy move the story to
instead a fictional man who is coming in much too close contact with both
physical and mental demons.
When
finding someone to play a tortured soul of hate, contempt, and complete rage,
you need a great character actor, and Mr. Moverman’s Messenger co-star Woody Harrelson slidely into that role like a
slug covered in the dirty slime of corruption. Mr. Harrleson is a character
actor at heart, and roles in Natural Born
Killers and Zombieland have shown
off his charisma for playing characters on the complete edge of society, much
less reality. In Rampart, Mr.
Harrelson digs deep to make his character completely repulsive, much less
unlikeable. But Mr. Harrleson has so much strength in his oversized body and
often soulless eyes that you can’t take your eyes off of him, drawn like the
moth to the flame.
Rampart is even looser in terms of its
narrative than The Messenger, not to
mention the densely plotted narratives of Mr. Ellory’s novels. Dave is involved
in a number of cases; he’s got heat from a superior (Sigoruney Weaver) for a
viral video of him beating a man who crashed into his police car (“assault with
a deadly weapon,” Dave insists). An attractive lawyer (Robin Wright) seduces
him, though Dave is constantly suspicious of her motivations. He’s also being
investigated by the DA’s office (Ice Cube is a really juicy role) and trying to
scrap together cash for lawyer’s fees by taking hints from a retired dirty cop
(Ned Beatty). Plus, he’s got two daughters to take care of, one from two
sisters that live in the home next to him, a sign of submission as well as
protection.
Mostly
though, Dave moves from person to place as a destructive force with no reason
or rhythm. Mr. Moverman and his director of photography Bobby Bukowski give the
film an intense digital look throughout full of high contrast colors and dark
shadows. This is neo noir on a whole different level as the intensity of the close-ups,
and staggered and broken compositions, and vivid color palette of Los Angeles
bolden Dave’s rampage mentality. At times, it seems that Mr. Moverman chooses
angles or camera pans for more aesthetic reasons than those that match his
narrative, but Mr. Harrleson’s loose and steamrolling performance keeps the
film in place.
Late
in the film, Dave’s younger daughter asks him if he’s done all the terrible
things that people have said. Dave admits that he is the monster. Rampart is an intense film of self-discovery
that owes more to Heart of Darkness
than the gritty police films of previous years. Both Mr. Harrelson and Mr.
Ellroy have demons in their family past—Mr. Harrelson’s father was a murderer,
and Mr. Ellory’s mother became an unsolved murder. Their talents, tapped by the
genius of Mr. Moverman, thus create a stunning portrait of the bitter hell than
the human soul can become, and the consequences it leads to those that come in
contact with such a person.
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