Kings of conspiracy

It used to be that if a viewer wanted to see a gritty police story, they’d turn to the silver screen. But in recent years, non-network television has provided some of the best police storytelling ever with shows like “The Shield” and “The Wire,” making it extremely difficult for film to produce anything groundbreaking. And although “Street Kings” was directed by “Training Day” writer David Ayer, it falls short of anything tremendous.

“Street Kings” follows Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), a man whose justice-by-any-means-necessary attitude has him under constant watch from Captain Biggs (Hugh Laurie). Luckily for Ludlow, Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) uses his inside connections to make certain he’s always protected. That’s until Ludlow becomes wrapped up in one conspiracy after another while trying to find the killers of his former partner.

“Street Kings” is a good enough film, but it fails to bring anything new to the table. The plot features so many twists and turns in the final 25 minutes that by film’s end, everyone’s screwed everyone else over at least twice.

That’s not to say “Street Kings” isn’t without its great elements. The story seems as real and gritty as can be, and the use of police and procedural lingo works well rather than as a distraction. Moreover, there are a couple of well-crafted shoot-outs and action sequences, without the use of any hokey special effects or slow motion.

For the most part, the star-studded cast lives up to its billing. Reeves has taken lots of flak over the years, but he’s always best when playing someone who doesn’t know what the hell is going on: Tom Ludlow is that man. It took a few minutes to get used to Laurie as someone other than Dr. House, and Whitaker seemed to be around just for the post-Oscar paycheck, as in “Vantage Point.” However, Chris Evans’ performance is strong, mostly due to his chemistry with Reeves.

“Street Kings” doesn’t light the world on fire with any new ideas, but it’s great for what it is – a testosterone-fueled pissing contest with lots of violence and swearing. And it doesn’t get much better than that.