Mike weighs in with a review of the recently released police drama, Badge of Honor starring Martin Sheen and Mena Suvari.
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| I'm just looking for some American pie to snack on. |
The police procedural is a time-honored genre in film and
television. From Dragnet and Columbo
up through Law & Order, it's an old standby that somehow never
fails to entertain. It usually at least
makes for pretty good TV, as such sordid tales of murder and corruption and the
like can often be wrapped up in a neat little bow in the allotted 44
minutes. The movies don't always have it
so easy. You have your Departed and
Training Day and End of Watch that transcend the conventions of
the police procedural and deliver sharp, intense filmmaking. Most attempts at translating the police
procedural to film end up a bit on the mediocre side; the intentions are good,
and there may even be an attempt at making something of quality, but in the end
it's just another overextended TV episode.
Badge of Honor is the latest such film.
Badge of Honor is about a young Internal Affairs
detective (Mena Suvari) investigating two narcotics detectives (Lochlyn Munro
and Jesse Bradford) after a 15-year-old boy is killed during a botched drug
bust. Naturally, things get pretty
intense for our heroic IA detective, as they often do in these sorts of movies. The story unfolds a bit slowly, and has a few
interesting beats, but there's a sameness permeating every scene and character
that's difficult to ignore.
Psychologically troubled cop with a lot on his plate? Check.
Victim's family whose cries for justice fall on deaf ears? Check.
Plucky detective whose determination to do whatever it takes to find the
truth gets her in hot water? You get the
idea.
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| Yeah, guys. I know. My son is a royal douchebag. |
All things considered Badge of Honor is actually
pretty well made. Co-writer/director
Augustin, who had mostly done a lot of Spanish language films and TV shows, may
have basically made a long TV episode, but it's a pretty decent looking one,
with just the right amount of grit and intensity. The performances are equally high quality,
with Mena Suvari doing an admirable job carrying the film. She would be right at home on a CSI or
Law & Order spin-off of her own.
Character actor Munro takes a stock sketchy cop character and makes a
pretty good go of it as well, toning down the occasional over-the-top-ness he
sometimes brings to his characters.
There are bits and pieces of things that stand out in the film, but not
much to raise it above the level of "a good cop show".
Badge of Honor could have been a pretty decent TV
episode, but instead it was stretched into a mediocre movie--a movie you've
seen before, several times. Suvari and
Munro do impress, but don’t do enough to elevate a routine procedural that
doesn’t do them a whole lot of favors.
TV-level grit and intensity are not enough to carry the day; in the end
a cop movie needs that little "something extra" to be great. Try as it might, Badge of Honor never
quite manages to get there.
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Score
-Mike Stec