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Released by: Fox
Released on: 4/19/2011
Director:Chris Fisher
Cast: Ray Liotta
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
The original STREET KINGS (starring Keanu Reeves) was an awful film. It was however, highly entertaining for all the wrong reasons. Some have even come to its defense - but that is a debate for another time.
So what of its direct-to-video sequel STREET KINGS 2? Australian genre film writer Mike Thomason has a wonderful description for films like this - “DTV tripeâ€. I am happy to borrow that term here, because, frankly, it fit's the bill for this mess. Perfectly.
The only real attraction in this pathetic police procedural is a slumming Ray Liotta. Liotta once had a promising career in A-list films like GOODFELLAS but he now seems to be mostly working in entertaining trash like IN THE NAME OF THE KING these days . A skilled actor who is always fun to watch he deserves better than this film.
Does anyone really need a plot synopsis here? I doubt it - but here goes an abbreviated one. Liotta plays Marty Kingston - a dirty cop who was involved in drug bust that went horribly wrong. This sequence (which plays as a prologue of sorts) is the highlight of the film, Reminiscent of a similar scene in the vastly superior Paul walker vehicle RUNNING SCARED, it starts the flick off with a violent bang. Its all bad news from there though as the movie shifts ahead three years to Liotta as a busted-down Motor City cop giving anti-crime lectures to bored schoolchildren. You know that he will be back in action though - and this is where the clichés begin their fast and furious attack. Yep, its time for the hoary old murdered ex-partner routine. And the naí¯ve new “righteous†partner bit. And the “onetime associates of the fallen cop being bumped off†development and… can we stop now?
Yes, there is a twist. And yes it is lame as hell. And yes, if you have not figured it out 10 minutes into this one you are mercifully ignorant of cop-movie 101.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Technically, this turd has been shined quite nicely. The 1080p AVC digital encode is crisp and black levels and flesh tones are close to perfect. The film was shot digitally but still retains a natural appearance. Audio is an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that really shines in the opening sequence but gets a bit more restrained after that. It is still a very solid track however.
Extras consist of 2 short deleted Scenes, 3 featurettes focusing on murder scenes in the film, another short piece about research done for the film and 2 pieces that deal with filming in Detroit and a detailed examination of the drug deal scene that opens the movie. And there is also one of those lame quizzes where you answer questions with your remote control.
