Dark Blue [Blu-ray]

Director: Ron Shelton Ron Shelton

Overview

A cop's personal code of justice begins to change after a number of incidents lead his city to a tragic wave of violence in this police drama. Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) is a veteran cop with the LAPD's Special Investigations unit, a man who isn't above bending the law if it means putting people behind bars who deserve the treatment. As Los Angeles waits on the verdict in the Rodney King police beating trial, Perry is presenting testimony to Assistant Chief of Police Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), who is well aware of the corruption in the SIS unit and wants to stop it. Perry, however, twists some facts as he speaks in the defense of his new partner, Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman), who is being investigated for inappropriate use of deadly force. For lack of honest testimony, Keough is let off the hook, and soon he and Perry have a new case to investigate -- a robbery at a liquor store than turned into a quadruple homicide. Perry and Keough quickly track down two likely suspects, Orchard (Kurupt) and Sidwell (Dash Mihok), but Perry is surprised when the head of SIS, Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), tells him to let Orchard and Sidwell go, and instead points the finger at two ex-cons who should be taken off the street, even though they're innocent of this crime. Perry follows Van Meter's orders, despite Keough's misgivings, but in the wake of the L.A. riots, Perry has a change of heart, and decides to start working with Holland against Van Meter's corrupt methods. In the midst of it all, Perry is trying to hold together his troubled marriage to Sally (Lolita Davidovich), while Keough finds himself romancing a fellow officer, Beth (Michael Michele). Dark Blue was adapted from an original screenplay by noted crime novelist James Ellroy; originally set against the backdrop of the 1965 Watts riots, the story was later updated to 1992.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/27/2015
UPC:	0887090110303
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	R
Source:	Olive
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	18,635

Special Features

Code blue: behind the scenes; By the book: production design

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kurt Russell	Eldon Perry
Scott Speedman	Bobby Keough
Michael Michele	Beth Williamson
Brendan Gleeson	Jack Van Meter
Ving Rhames	Arthur Holland
Kurupt	Darryl Orchard
Dash Mihok	Gary Sidwell
Jonathan Banks	James Barcomb
Lolita Davidovich	Sally Perry
Khandi Alexander	Janelle Holland
Dana Lee	Henry Kim
Chapman Russell Way	Eldon Perry III
Marin Hinkle	Deena Schultz
Jim Cody Williams	Suspect
Eloy Casados	Rico
Graham Beckel	Peltz
William Utay	Sapin
Joe McChesney	Lefty
Master P	Maniac
Faleolo Alailima	Lucky 7 Bouncer
Eddie Mui	Lucky 7 Bartender
Kaila Yu	Lucky 7 Dancer
Wayne A. King Sr.	Mr. Lewis
Cheryl Reeves	Nurse
Peter Weireter	Swat Leader
Keith MacKechnie	Interrogation Officer
Keith MacKenzie	Interrogation Officer
Jamison Jones	Frank,Actor
Victor Prince II	Metro Cop
David Doty	Judge Russo
Alan Davidson	Leon Taggert
Ted Marcoux	J.R.
John Fadule	Shooting Board Officer
Darrell Foster	Sgt. Jakes
Heather Hutchins	Stenographer
Gregg Miller	Officer Charlie,Actor
Nigel Gibbs	Pastor Dennis
Carmen Twilee	Church Choir Singer
Carmen Twillie	Church Choir Singer
Dorian Holley	Church Choir Singer
Monalisa Young	Church Choir Singer
Kudisan Kai	Church Choir Singer
Julius Rizzotti	New Lieutenant
Jordy Oakland	Waitress Tina
Michael A. Bentt	Officer Clay,Officer Clay
Giovanni Antonio Guichard	Rastas,Rastas
Tom Todoroff	Police Dispatcher
Robert Tur	Helicopter Reporter
Eric Spillman	Newscaster
Shane West	Actor
Mandy Moore	Actor
Peter Coyote	Actor
Daryl Hannah	Actor
Lauren German	Actor
Clayne Crawford	Actor
Al Thompson	Actor
Paz De La Huerta	Actor
Jonathan Parks Jordan	Actor
Matt Lutz	Actor
David Andrews	Actor
David Lee Smith	Actor
Xavier Hernandez	Actor

Technical Credits

David Ayer

Karen Janszen

Ron Shelton	Director
David Ayer	Screenwriter
David Blocker	Producer
Moritz Borman	Executive Producer
Caldecot Chubb	Producer
Sean Daniel	Producer
Jeff Dashnaw	Stunts
Guy East	Executive Producer
Larry Fioritto	Special Effects
James Jacks	Producer
Francine Maisler	Casting
Nigel Sinclair	Executive Producer
Adam Shankman	Director
Denise Di Novi	Producer
Karen Janszen	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Set in Los Angeles during April 1992, this powerful drama of corruption and redemption begins in the days leading up to the tumultuous rioting that followed the acquittal of four LAPD officers in the Rodney King police-brutality case. Dark Blue focuses on cynical Sgt. Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell), a casually crooked cop who tries to convince his rookie partner, Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman), that you have to play as rough as the bad guys if you’re to maintain order in the streets. But Perry’s peculiar approach to law enforcement, like that of the officers on trial, has recently come under the scrutiny of Deputy Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), who has sworn to bring down Eldon’s unscrupulous superior, Captain Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson). This plot, with these actors, would probably make for an entertaining movie in any event, but the backdrop of a riot-torn Los Angeles in flames gives Dark Blue’s third act an apocalyptic quality that ups the emotional ante considerably. Russell’s Eldon Perry is a flawed protagonist who sees his whole world upended in a matter of days, suddenly finding his career hanging by a thread, his captain headed for indictment and exposure, and his long-suffering wife, Sally (Lolita Davidovich), on the verge of leaving him. The consistently underrated Russell, undertaking the difficult task presented him by screenwriter David Ayer and director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham), uses his considerable skill and force of personality to make Perry a not-altogether-unsympathetic character. Squarely upon his shoulders rests the believability of the film’s explosive but improbable climax, and he rises to the occasion magnificently. Sufficiently action-packed for the most thrill-hungry cop-film fanciers, Dark Blue is in the mold of such recent hits as Training Day and Narc; concerned with things far more important than shootouts and car chases, yet as viscerally exciting as any shoot-'em-up you'll see.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

This hard-boiled cop flick is mean, nasty, and violent, inspired as it is by the writing of James Ellroy, who penned the story it's based on. It's very much true to Ellroy's gutter-style crime fiction, and that's the film's best quality. The screenplay by David Ayer is very much in keeping with Ellroy's style, perhaps even more so than L.A. Confidential. The film also has plenty of similarities to 2001's Training Day with Denzel Washington. Both films deal with thoroughly corrupt LAPD units. Dark Blue focuses on the Special Investigations Squad (SIS), which killed an incredible amount of bank robbers over a short period of time. The unit's amazing kill rate was never a huge story and was eventually overshadowed by the Rampart Scandal. Dark Blue, like Training Day, also has a seasoned corrupt cop Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) paired up with an anxious rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman). While Russell does a fine job playing an alcoholic, out-of-control jerk and Brendan Gleeson is good as his completely crooked mentor, Speedman is weak in the good-cop role, as is his love interest, another cop (Michael Michele). Both are TV actors who make Dark Blue feel like a crummy TV cop show when they're together on screen. The story takes place as the Rodney King verdict and L.A. Riots unfold and does a good job of showing the sort of cop culture that led to those events. The riot scene near the end of Dark Blue is quite a spectacle, but the very end of the film is too staged. This doesn't take away, however, from what is surely one of the grittiest cop pictures Hollywood has ever made.

All Movie Guide - Adam Bregman

Harrowing and compulsively watchable morality play. Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

While Dark Blue may not be easy to watch, it's exceptionally well made. Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Gritty, gripping, a bit uneven, but Kurt Russell hits all the right notes. John Anderson

Newsday