Copshop
In a refreshing turn of events, I landed on something in streaming that isn’t too old (is 2021 too old?), and is better than its trailer. But I didn’t see the trailer first, instead I had caught a bit of sequence that made me think the filmmaker has a good handle on suspense, and had hired a believable leading lady to play the rookie cop. This is a similar plot to Last Shift in 2013 and John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 in 1976, which was remade in 2013 and is essentially having a tremendous shoot out in a police station.
In the endless stretches of empty desert in the American southwest, there is a precinct of amiable, not terribly hard working cops with one rookie in a spotless uniform and a huge gun. Think Rick Grimes’ gun with a shorter barrel. The movie opens with her practicing her quick draw in front of a food truck in the desert. She’s sucker punched in a brawl by a guy who wants to be arrested for his own protection. Some very bad people are after him. Too bad one of them gets himself arrested, too, putting him in a cell across from his mark. They aren’t the only bad guys, chaos ensues.
It’s a solidly made movie, with good stunts and lots of gun action. There were a couple of color overlay choices near the beginning that gave me a flashback to the worst movie I ever saw, but it didn’t last long and by the end I had forgotten it. This movie starts slow, but gets a little better and a little better until it’s full on fun. Early on I wrote in my notes that the camera work is only okay, but by the end I wrote an update saying it improved as the film progressed. One of several things I noted was how seldom the huge gunfight in a police station has been used and I’m still a little curious why it hasn’t. There’s so much going for this plot, with loads of guns, secure areas that aren’t easy to breech, and tons of possible bad guys.
Rookie officer Young (Alexis Louder, Violent Night) is too cool for school and holds her own against some very bad guys. Gerard Butler (300, Greenland), Frank Grillo (Tulsa King, Superman), and Toby Huss (Weapons) are her three nemeses. The plot is a little more filled out than that, but not too much. The best thing to bear in mind is that deceit is the order of the day. Of note is the appearance of one of my favorite actors, Chad Coleman (The Expanse, The Orville). Something about him bellowing at people makes me happy.
I haven’t read any reviews that go into this aspect, and maybe I’m imaging things. Nah, this is totally a light fantasy movie. These cops are not loaded down with fifty pounds of gear ringing their torso. Watch any cop YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. Young’s gun is not only way too big for her, but it’s an old style six shooter. Beyond the obvious being outmatched by the number of shots any bad guy will have on her, they’re slower to reload, and the trigger pull is harder. I can’t imagine a department allowing it. There is a moment where she’s pointing the gun at someone and they comment wryly that she’s shaking, and I volunteered, “Because the gun is too heavy for her.” Not only that, but the vest-less and barely armed force has a number of other officers carrying six shooters. It’s a bad guy paradise. But the actress does make the gun look super cool. Or is it the other way around? Downstairs the heavily armored holding cells look like they were copied directly from a 1960 episode of Have Gun Will Travel. Widely spaced steel bars and a lock that requires a key. A key! The holding cell lock looks like something John Conner hacks in 1991’s The Terminator 2.
At the very least, this is an interesting shoot ‘em up with a good cast and decent writing that gives the plot a little bit of depth without detracting from the hot lead sauna. If you like a good leading lady cop and some really despicable bad guys, you will probably enjoy this.
Triggers: loads of violence and a bit of torture
Available on: Netfilx (till early August), Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Apple TV
LINKS:
CFR: In Addition
I really liked this movie. I remember seeing the trailer and I was like yay cool woman cop. I love that I was right.
I saw it right after it came out so I don’t remember a lot of the details. Thank you Cranky for pointing out the firearms bit. I might have wondered about that myself when I first watched it. I really adored that you just never knew who the real bad buy was. All of the actors did a fine job. Cudos to Alexis Loude for holding her own while on camera with Butler and Grillo.
The run down “old” look of the town and precinct were excellent. I like that the story was in an isolated area. Characters had to relay on themselves and save their own skins. Plus it was visually different than other movies I had seen around the time. As I think back on it now, the movie still holds in my memory a look I don’t remember seeing in other movies or shows.
I was happy to see that Cranky reviewed this. Now I’m going to go watch it again.
Chick Flicking Reviews 