Narc film review

certificate_18

NARC

Narc is a tough, gritty and uncompromising cop movie, and not the good cop bad cop, buddy buddy variety. Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) and Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) are both bad cops and definitely not buddies. Narc is uncomfortable to watch both for its giddy hand held camerawork and brutal violence. Having your stomach wound tightly for nigh on two hours, with no humour or relief, might be considered by many as testimony to the film's effectiveness, but that doesn't necessarily make it appealing.

Narc's strongest asset is the performances of its two stars. Both Liotta and Patric imbue their troubled and menacing characters with sufficient authenticity to make their partnership both formidable and volatile. Liotta's ready smile has always belied a darker side. The wrinkles and weight of age have only added to his imposing presence. For Patric, with the burden of expectation now behind him, and no longer shackled by his looks, he's able to show his chops.

The two Detroit narcotic detectives team up when Tellis is assigned to help in the investigation of the murder of Oak's partner, Calvess. Tellis reluctantly takes the job, which offers the chance of reinstatement after his suspension for shooting a bystander while pursuing a suspect. With a wife and baby to support, the prospect of going back on the street is bad enough, but being partnered with the unscrupulous Oak, who resorts to any means available - usually violent - to secure a conviction, only compounds matters. Both men's wilful independence and differing methods make for an uneasy alliance. Tellis is keen to resolve the case and return to the security of a desk job while Oak's reasons are a little more personal.

Writer and director Joe Carnahan instils Narc with a palpable energy and tension, but little depth or contrast. The characters all but exist in a vacuum and come across as colourless and exaggerated. To know anything about what lies beneath their soulless exteriors would have added to their strength. One element that was particularly unsatisfying and manipulative was the flagrant distortion of events surrounding Calvess' murder as recounted in various flashbacks. It's a ploy used before in films, but that just makes it derivative as well as inexcusable.