Street Kings

James Ellroy, the author of LA Confidential, returns to familiar territory co-writing this brooding cop drama. In fact, it's a tad too familiar, and as the detective wrestling with a moral dilemma, Keanu Reeves looks more than a little uncomfortable. A sinister Hugh Laurie is the man who makes him squirm in his seat, playing the Internal Affairs honcho who suspects that Reeves's widowed policeman has killed a fellow cop to cover previous violations. In fact, he may just be the tip of the iceberg in an above-the-law department presided over by Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Director David Ayer (who wrote the Oscar-winning Training Day) generates a fair amount of intrigue as he examines the rogue cop's motives. It's just a shame that Reeves can't put across the same complexity, and that the script eventually succumbs to cliché.