**NOTE**: This is a holdover from Tribeca Film Festival (April 2019). Film releases exclusively in New York City on November 8th and nationwide on November 15th.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
It’s a jungle out there. A concept treated primarily in a blasé, matter-of-fact manner to loosely describe the day to day grind we all face and the supposed “chaos” it is to represent. Yet, look deeper, as for some who take on the occupation of police officer, that exact notion takes on a dangerously literal life that can usher about an impact on attitude and outlook few could ever hope to overcome. The night shift is commencing, and for twenty-plus year LAPD veteran Ray Mandel (Thomas Jane), it is just one more opportunity to face the beast that is the streets of L.A. This time, however, he is also burdened with another’s well-being, rookie Nick Holland (Luke Kleintank).
Facing the consequences of a previous incident gone wrong, Mandel’s new duties are as a training officer, and from the very start, it becomes quite clear the pair are on polar opposites of demeanor and viewpoints on life–Holland’s overt rule-following, by-the-book idealism vs. Mandel’s highly jaded and blurred-lines-when-needed approach. Trying to instill the harsh reality of what life on the L.A. streets is truly life, Mandel and Holland end up immersed in a night where two cop killers are on the loose, a wildly out of control rogue cop named VanZandt (Josh Hopkins) is on the hunt for payback in their patrol sector, and a missing girl tied to Mandel’s past are all placed in their path amidst routine stops, domestic disputes, and other entanglements in a city on the edge.
Next, my Mind:
It’s “Training Day” for 2019 and a new generation of filmgoers who this time around, however, are treated to the grittiness and often jarringly discordant actualities faced by L.A.’s finest (or potentially any PD operation) on a much more viscerally grounded, believable, dare we say relatable level that paints a sobering portrait of the potential cost and harrowing emotional upheaval that can accompany the uniforms and Crown Vic squad cars most associated with law enforcement officials in this country. This is not to take a single thing away from the 2001 epic aforementioned above, but the wonder of indie cinema is its uncompromising, unyielding, and unapologetic means by which it chooses to portray the lives of characters on that engagingly foundational base which subsequently allows us as the viewer to truly experience and feel everything they’re enduring, which here is a tribute to writer/director Joel Souza and producers Anjul Nigam, Alec Baldwin, Gregg Bello, and Maxx Tsai for their vision to create this world where the law is present, but the means by which these hardened men and women choose to enforce it can sometimes get skewed, whether by personal circumstances, wrong decisions, or the world-weary taxation of soul from being out on the streets doing what they do and seeing all they have seen.
This isn’t some random excuse to say that our officers should ever conduct themselves in anything less than the honorable and dedicated ways they’ve sworn to embody, but they are just people, and people cannot be perfect in every moment, during every choice, much less when facing the physical, mental, and emotional rigors they must to execute their position in a given situation, some of which could spell death of not handled carefully and tactically. The film does an excellent job of not sugar-coating or treating with kid gloves any of what it delivers, rather presenting a consistent punch to the gut while still managing to likewise bring about affecting character-driven drama that aids in promoting the philosophical, ideological, and personal thematic goals shown with the dynamics of having these explored from the perspectives of rookie, veteran, and unhinged. The smartly written dialogue deftly launches us into conflicting points of view and does so with an undeniably brutal efficiency as we watch these officers attempt to master the ebb and flow of a night patrol while trying desperately to maintain their own sense of morality and duty, all of which is “the way it should be” in each of their minds and actions.
This is where the film excels even more, by then allowing this chaos to come crashing together via all the varying encounters the characters have with each other and the perpetrators on every level they have run-ins with. Watching as the moments illustrate both their dogged personal stances on events while also showing just how radical of an effect it produces in them is so highly impactful as situations and the night unfold. By film’s equally stirring and purposefully numbing finale, it leaves us wondering exactly how any of these officers will be able to face another shift. But, that’s the beauty and intentionality here, that sense of uncertainty and truths being shown should resonate within us as potently and with lasting impression as the characters we’ve just invested in. It’s the struggle to find identity that lasts, that has meaning, and that has a legacy, all contained through the flashing lights, blare of sirens, uncooperative perps or suspects, and forbid, gunfire. Perhaps that is what should ultimately shine through the dark–these officers are certainly trying to do what they believe is good, and much is accomplished that is such as rendered here, but it’s not always pretty, and it’s not always neatly packaged within the defined lines of justice as most would see it. Hence why it pays to think about what these officers face day in and day out and maybe have a genuine empathy for what it means to be police.
Jane, whom this critic believes is still a highly underrated character actor, shines brightly in a darker role with his portrayal of veteran LAPD officer Ray Mandel, a man who we simply know by conjecture has been through it all while on the force his 20+ years, though a mistake in judgement cost him the original duties he was on and placed him back behind a desk and now as an FTO on night patrol in the Olympic Division of the LAPD. Jaded and worn down from his years of service, Mandel takes on a new recruit for a night shift neither one will soon forget, as it becomes a mash-up of typically routine, albeit quite aggravating, calls to answer which culminates into a battle of opinions, principals, and what it means to do what’s necessary to accomplish their tasks as cops in an unforgiving labyrinth of city streets and neighborhoods filled with those who would do no right. As the evening moves on, while pursuing leads on two cop killers, Mandel takes on a personal missions to find and rescue a young girl tied to his past and interrupt the actions of a rogue cop on his own mission of revenge. With his rookie protégé becoming more and more wary of everything he witnesses Mandel maintains his methods and by the end of shift, it leaves us wondering if there’s anything left within him that’s untainted. Jane makes you feel and believe every moment, whether with understated intensity or full-out bravado, it’s a performance that leaves an impression.
Kleintank is certainly not to be undersold here by any stretch of the imagine as he beautifully navigates the nuances of rookie cop Nick Holland, a fresh out of the academy, ready-to-serve, play by the rules officer whose immediate unsureness and awkwardness during his introduction to Mandel makes it more than apparent it could be a long night. His thoughts often elsewhere initially, being a husband and father-to-be, Holland’s familial distractions more than annoy his blunted FTO, who tries his level best to teach Holland not to allow the personal to interfere with the job. Holland soon finds his idealism challenged at every level, but still tried to keep an open mind as the pair execute their arrests and answers to calls. But, Holland also realizes that Mandel’s overall attitude and ways of doing things don’t fully mesh with his own, and as the two match wits as the night progresses, Holland begins to question what exactly he’s doing as a cop and whether it will be the career choice for him. This becomes even more apparent by the film’s end, when Holland has a truly disturbing moment of choice that further makes him fearful of what he might become–which could be like Mandel. It’s a highly volatile character despite the calmer manner Holland exhibits initially, and Kleintank wonderfully embodies the dynamics of it all with a mature poise and realistic delivery that make the character a perfect foil (but then virtual mirror image?) for Mandel.
Primary supporting roles arrive starting with Hopkins as the completely strung-out, wildly off-kilter rogue cop Jack VanZandt, himself a veteran of the force, but playing well outside any notion of the rules. In the wake of the two cop killers associated with a recent robbery being at large, Jack takes it upon himself to end up in Mandel’s patrol zone with a murderous intent on bringing his own sense of justice to anyone criminal that would stand in his way while believing he’s avenging his fallen brothers. It’s an excellently performed, brilliant round of acting Hopkins brings, full of such raw passion and energy, that tells us all we need to know about the inward brokenness VanZandt’s character carries as he spirals out of control. Even if to a slightly lesser yet no less disturbing level, actor David Krumholtz brings an air of quirky, unsettling menace as VanZandt’s partner, Stroke Adams, who makes it abundantly clear he supports his comrade in blue regardless of how off center he is. His own sense or moral code and how to be a cop seems to line up directly with VanZandt’s, yet we cannot help but wonder if Adams was always this way, or if he allowed himself to be drawn into a circle of bad choices and wrong influences to wind up just as messed up as VanZandt. We can tell he follows VanZandt’s whims, so it could be he’s stuck in his situation by sheer sense of obedience to a more powerful personality’s authority. Either way, Adams does a great job in the role.
Additional key supporting turns are presented first by the always diversifying, beautiful, and talented Bridget Moynahan as Tracy Peters, the wife of Mandel’s former partner, whose since become aloof and lost in her life without her husband, a victim of the incident that gained Mandel his desk job, then Devon Werkheiser as Tracy’s drug dealing friend Floyd Stiles whom Mandel wastes no time making an example of in order to make a point and further put off Holland, Emma Ishta as Ally, a very, very intoxicated traffic stop Mandel and Holland engage in at their (rather hilarious) peril, Scottie Thompson as one of Mandel and Holland’s domestic calls named Claire, who has her own means to attract attention when drunkenly answering the door upon their arrival, much less stirring the pot when the encounter goes decidedly south thanks to her husband Lester arriving, played oh-so-briefly but quite entertainingly by James Andrew O’Connor, Gregg Bello as one of Mandel’s cop buddies Don Koski whom we think might have his own motives and agendas from over his tenure with LAPD, though managing perhaps to keep things on the straight and narrow, and Shiloh Verrico as a young girl whom Mandel has specific reason to find when learning she’s missing. There are many other appearances, which while not named here, are no less important in this critic’s eyes for their contributions, so please know that.
In total, “Crown Vic” is a deeply haunting yet irrefutably riveting dramatic effort that shows us the more ominous yet no less truthful realities of what it is to be a cop in the City of Angels where so many, sometimes even those who are the good guys, are anything but, a study in flawed humanity and we hope an ultimate encouragement that there are more on the side of the city’s namesake than not.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
