A review by Brooks Rich
Today we have a brief feature on director Joe Carnahan, a criminally underrated director who deserves a bigger career than he has. Most of you will probably know Carnahan from his 2011 film The Grey. But Caranhan was working well before that. We'll begin with the 2002 police procedural he wrote and directed, Narc.
Jason Patric is Nick Tellis, an undercover narcotics officer in Detroit assigned to look into the murder of another undercover cop. Tellis is teamed up with Henry Oak, played by Ray Liotta, a detective who knew the murdered cop, and together the two follow a trail of clues into the seedy underworld of drugs to try and find out what happened.
There's eight million cop films out there and it’s true that parts of Narc feel familiar… but Carnahan brings grittiness and brutality to this story. This is an ugly world filled with ugly and violent people. The film opens with Tellis' cover getting blown and a chase through the streets that leads to a man stabbed in the neck and a shootout in a playground. Know what you're getting into when you watch this film. It doesn't pull any punches. The violence is in your face… and it's clear pretty early on that there isn't going to be a good ending to this investigation.
This is the best Jason Patric has ever been. He is riveting as Tellis and of course it's great to see Ray Liotta playing a character with some weight to him. Liotta is a fantastic actor, but lately has become one of those actors who won't say no to anything. He's appeared in some bad stuff over the years and it's great to go back and watch something like his where he's really playing a hard ass. The two actors have great chemistry and we completely buy this shaky relationship between two men looking for the truth.
This is not Carnahan's best work, we'll get to The Grey, but it is an interesting film to watch. It’s not his first film but it is the one that put him on the map and probably the film to best pair with The Grey. Both films are brutal and deal with what it's like to be a man in today's society and how one faces his own mortality, though those themes are definitely explored more in depth in The Grey. If you can handle some hardcore violence and language, give Narc a chance, especially if you're a fan of cop films.
Today we have a brief feature on director Joe Carnahan, a criminally underrated director who deserves a bigger career than he has. Most of you will probably know Carnahan from his 2011 film The Grey. But Caranhan was working well before that. We'll begin with the 2002 police procedural he wrote and directed, Narc.
Jason Patric is Nick Tellis, an undercover narcotics officer in Detroit assigned to look into the murder of another undercover cop. Tellis is teamed up with Henry Oak, played by Ray Liotta, a detective who knew the murdered cop, and together the two follow a trail of clues into the seedy underworld of drugs to try and find out what happened.
There's eight million cop films out there and it’s true that parts of Narc feel familiar… but Carnahan brings grittiness and brutality to this story. This is an ugly world filled with ugly and violent people. The film opens with Tellis' cover getting blown and a chase through the streets that leads to a man stabbed in the neck and a shootout in a playground. Know what you're getting into when you watch this film. It doesn't pull any punches. The violence is in your face… and it's clear pretty early on that there isn't going to be a good ending to this investigation.
This is the best Jason Patric has ever been. He is riveting as Tellis and of course it's great to see Ray Liotta playing a character with some weight to him. Liotta is a fantastic actor, but lately has become one of those actors who won't say no to anything. He's appeared in some bad stuff over the years and it's great to go back and watch something like his where he's really playing a hard ass. The two actors have great chemistry and we completely buy this shaky relationship between two men looking for the truth.
This is not Carnahan's best work, we'll get to The Grey, but it is an interesting film to watch. It’s not his first film but it is the one that put him on the map and probably the film to best pair with The Grey. Both films are brutal and deal with what it's like to be a man in today's society and how one faces his own mortality, though those themes are definitely explored more in depth in The Grey. If you can handle some hardcore violence and language, give Narc a chance, especially if you're a fan of cop films.
Comments
Post a Comment