"Street Kings" is a bit of a throwback film. It could easily have been released in the '70s with its theme of gritty crime and corruption in the police department. Keanu Reeves heads the cast as Tom Ludlow, a member of an elite group of cops headed by Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). This team of cops shirks the rules when needed to take down the bad guys. When one of Ludlow's former partners (Terry Crew) starts to talk to Internal Affairs, it sets off a chain of events that has Ludlow looking like a dirty cop who would do anything to protect his career. He also finds himself in a tug-of-war between Wander and Internal Affairs Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie), who are both striving for a Commander slot. Ludlow slowly finds himself getting deeper and deeper and more alone as he tries to get to the bottom of what is going on. This is a good old-school cop drama with lots of twists and turns. There were only two minor issues with the movie. First, I figured out exactly who the main culprit was going to be very early. While the film was still very entertaining, it took away from it just a little. The second was the usually amazing Forest Whitaker, who, while good, seemed to have a little trouble pulling off the "street cop" accent he was trying to get through. I have seen Whitaker pull off many accents before (most notably in "The Crying Game"), but in this one, it just missed the mark a little bit. The rest of the cast was solid down the line, including Reeves, who sometimes is accused of being too wooden. There is also a very good performance by the under-rated Jay Mohr. Grade: B-
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