Release Date: N/A
In 1999, Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) is the last of a dying breed of LAPD renegade cops. In the midst of a major scandal, the LAPD’s Rampart division is ripped apart and exposed for its wide-spread corruption, coercion and brutality. So when Dave is caught on tape beating the piss out of a guy after he careens into his police cruiser, he’s fingered to take a fall. Dave and his warped sense of street justice must now fight for survival as his life quickly spirals downward.
Rampart is not about police corruption or even one cop’s battle to fight crime in LA. Rampart is essentially the ultimate character study of one man’s inevitable decent into hell. That man – Dave Brown – just happens to be a police officer, albeit a ruthless one. Several years ago, we learn that Dave pursued and killed a serial date rapist. Whether he had enough probable cause to use deadly force will be entirely up to you to decide. Either way, he was eventually acquitted of all the charges but now brands the moniker, “Date Rape Dave”, which he carries with him as if it were the scarlet letter “A”.
Woody Harrelson puts forth a searing performance that’s both fearless and fearsome. Dave Brown is a repugnant human being. He’s primitive. He’s destructive. But because he’s portrayed by Woody Harrelson, no matter how loathsome of a human being he is, we’re constantly reminded that he is a human being nonetheless. Perhaps all too human. Though, the journey that is Dave Brown goes far deeper than being merely self-destruction. He not only believes he can ride out the storm of the scandal, but when he does, all order of his family and career will be restored. It’s a journey I’m glad I got the opportunity to experience through the prism of Woody Harrelson because any other actor might not have sufficed. He just plays the part of bad cop so damn good.
I think understand what Oren Moverman was trying to achieve here. But by attempting to give Rampart its visceral sting, he blitzes the audience with techno riffs and then assaults them with distinctively brutal camera angles. Moverman spends a hell of a lot of time studying the star’s profile within his police cruiser nocturnally back lit by the city and diverts too far from the simplistic subtleties which earned him much deserved acclaim for The Messenger. Although the film has a very naturalistic, almost documentary feel, Rampart may be the product of an overly ambitious director being too “artsy fartsy.” It ultimately hinders the film’s effectiveness, if only slightly.
Although Harrelson is supported by a fairly deep cast, most of them only get a handful of scenes, some only get a handful of lines. Steve Buscemi is too sparsely used for my taste, but the scenes he does appear in, he’s not bad. Sigourney Weaver makes her mark with a few rewarding scenes as the LAPD lawyer. Ned Beatty plays the sleazeball retired cop whose motives are never made clear really well but his freakishly long fingernails weirded me out. Ben Foster, who doubles as producer for the film, plays a homeless man who Dave dubs “General” and may have witnessed too much. But by far the biggest standout from the supporting cast is Robin Wright. She only appears in scenes with Woody Harrelson but proves to be stellar in each. As the edgy yet vulnerable mystery woman, she not only holds her own but makes a run at stealing each scene.
I suppose the more I try to answer some of the lingering questions about Dave Brown, the more I like Rampart. But no matter how mesmerizing Woody Harrelson is; no matter how complex Dave Brown is; Rampart is entirely all atmosphere and grit. Moverman tightens the screws on his directorial hold and it proves to be far too overbearing and the film ultimately proves to be a one-man show.
Movie Wiseguys: 7.0/10