Bad Bullets
Every so often, sometimes inadvertently, movies comment about themselves. Sometimes amusingly, sometimes not. In George Miller's The Road Warrior, you're expected to chuckle when the Humungous says after lots of high-velocity mayhem, "There's been entirely too much violence."
Keanu Reeves (center) in David Ayer's Street Kings (Fox Searchlight, 4.11)
In Chapter 27 , the recently-released drama about the build-up to the killing of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman (Jared Leto), it's hard not to smirk when Leto, speaking in a strongly actor-ish southern drawl, says he can't stand movies in which actors seem to be showing off.
Another such moment happens in David Ayer's Street Kings (Fox Searchlight, 4.11) in which someone -- Keanu Reeves or Forest Whitaker, I forget which -- says, "Too many guys have been shot." Which, from my perspective, was certainly one of the problems with the film, if not the problem. Few things irritate me more than a crime film with an excessive body count. It's not an absolute law, but it tends to be true more often than not: the less gunshots a crime thriller has, the better it tends to be.
I don't know for a fact that Street King's co-screenwriter James Ellroy has problems with it also, but telling L.A. Times staffer Scott Timberg, in a 4.6 article about his relationship with Hollywood, that he wouldn't discuss it certainly indicates a reservation or two. Ellroy shares screenplay credit with Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Moss. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that Ellroy isn't much for accomodating himself to the views and visions of others.
There may be several crime thrillers that have worked just fine with gunshots galore, but I can't think of any right now. Back in the '70s and '80s the prevailing rule was that any crime thriller with a big car chase was definitely suspect, and quite possibly bad. (Because a film looking to ape the legendary car chases in Bullitt and The French Connection always seemed to be doing just that.) Too much burned rubber = a lack of style and imagination.
One more thing: when Forest Whitaker is a good film, like The Crying Game or The Last King of Scotland or The Great Debaters, he's a champ and a prince. But when he's in a bad or problematic one, like Street Kings or Vantage Point or Species, he seems to almost make it somehow worse.
Maybe it's because Whitaker is such a committed whole-hog type who's intensely into whatever he's acting. Put him in a crummy film and he always seems to be saying to the viewer, "Man, I'm not gonna rest or hold back until you understand -- completely, totally, without a doubt -- that this movie I'm acting in right now is pretty damn awful. I'm not gonna leave you alone about this. I'm gonna hammer and hammer and make it hurt. You will be in pain by the time I'm finished with you."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 5, 2008 at 2:08 PM
comment #1
Matthew Lucas
says ...
Kinda like when he was in "Battlefield Earth?"
I'm sure he wishes people would forget that...
Posted by Matthew Lucas
at April 5, 2008 6:44 PM
comment #2
MickTravis
says ...
I agree with the point about high body counts, but "The Wild Bunch" could be exhibit A for the defense.
Posted by MickTravis
at April 5, 2008 7:38 PM
comment #3
VoiceOfReason
says ...
Also "The Departed"
Posted by VoiceOfReason
at April 5, 2008 7:49 PM
comment #4
alynch
says ...
Well, "The Wild Bunch" is a western, not a crime film, so it doesn't qualify as an exception.
Posted by alynch
at April 5, 2008 8:04 PM
comment #5
Wrecktum
says ...
"Well, 'The Wild Bunch' is a western, not a crime film, so it doesn't qualify as an exception."
Too true. With westerns it's many times the opposite: the more gunplay, the better.
Posted by Wrecktum
at April 5, 2008 9:29 PM
comment #6
MickTravis
says ...
I'd like to argue that the Wild Bunch are criminals and thrilling to boot. But the truth of the matter is I didn't see the words "crime thrillers" until after it was pointed out.
Posted by MickTravis
at April 5, 2008 9:45 PM
comment #7
Edward
says ...
The Godfather has a pretty high body count. Then there's Shoot Em Up; way over the top, but that was the point too. I can't remember having so much fun seeing so much mayhem.
Posted by Edward
at April 5, 2008 10:00 PM
comment #8
christian
says ...
And there's certainly almost no gun play in any Michael Mann film.
Posted by christian
at April 5, 2008 11:40 PM
comment #9
Cadavra
says ...
My favorite such remark comes in Walter Hill's irrepressible EXTREME PREJUDICE: after the smoke clears from a climactic gun battle that leaves them almost literally knee deep in bodies, Powers Boothe snaps at Nick Nolte, "C'mon, quit fuckin' around! It's almost 4:00!" My friends and I still quote that to each other when appropriate.
Posted by Cadavra
at April 5, 2008 11:57 PM
comment #10
Geoff
says ...
Michael Mann knows how to deal with the gun play issue. It always kicks ass for one, and it's never over the top.
Forrest Whitaker was amazing in THE SHIELD by the way. Talk about commiting to a television role. Weight gain/loss, weird mannerisms. Very intense and effective stuff.
Posted by Geoff
at April 6, 2008 12:08 AM
comment #11
The Winchester
says ...
"Back in the '70s and '80s the prevailing rule was that any crime thriller with a big car chase was definitely suspect, and quite possibly bad."
And that's why Cannon thrived, with Charlie Bronson around. God rest his violent soul.
Posted by The Winchester
at April 6, 2008 12:17 AM
comment #12
Devin Faraci
says ...
I don't see how Ellroy could be happy with the movie, whatever its quality is - when I saw it last week David Ayers did a Q&A where he said that Ellroy's script had been radically redone. The basic logline is the same, but everything from the setting - his was set during the Rodney King trial - to the characters were apparently changed.
Posted by Devin Faraci
at April 6, 2008 2:25 AM
comment #13
Jay T.
says ...
Ellroy seems to like gun shots if you ask me. L.A. Confidential had its fair share (including about 100 near the end), and many of his books have a lot of gun shots as well. I think the real key is for every gun shot to have a purpose and some weight behind it.
Posted by Jay T.
at April 6, 2008 8:07 AM
comment #14
K. Bowen
says ...
"the less gunshots a crime thriller has, the better it tends to be."
That's like the Bowen theory of costume dramas: The quality of a costume drama is in inverse proportion to the amount of time people spend riding horses.
Posted by K. Bowen
at April 6, 2008 8:38 AM
comment #15
Ron Lim
says ...
First off, Michael Mann has a low body count? Pleeeeeeze.
Second, though Jeff may not agree, John Woo's Chinese films kick major ass and NO ONE can match him in body count...
The Killer & Hard Boiled easilly surpass the entie output of Clint Eastwood's career in body bags.
Posted by Ron Lim
at April 6, 2008 8:49 AM
comment #16
BurmaShave
says ...
Is that John Corbett on the right?
Posted by BurmaShave
at April 6, 2008 3:47 PM
comment #17
Michael
says ...
Forest Whitaker had a good scene with Newman in 'Color of Money'
Posted by Michael
at April 6, 2008 6:12 PM
comment #18
le corbeau
says ...
I like the Bowen rule. Yes, people bouncing on horses, hair flying up and down. Cheese.
The point is to avoid wall to wall violence but to spend most of the movie in a state where it's building like a storm. When it comes, it's more ferocious and devastating for having spent so long gathering force. True of most of the movies mentioned above that have a high body count-- but only at the end. The bad ones are the ones that cut to violence every 10 minutes like it's a commercial break-- or needed to keep you awake.
Posted by le corbeau
at April 7, 2008 7:02 AM
comment #19
danmo
says ...
Having worked at a production company that produced the film during the script's development, I can say the final screenplay bears little resemblance to Ellroy's original. That script was a tough as nails story of redemption set during the Rodney King riots. It did not shy away from the protagonist's deep seated racism nor a heavy focus on character over plot. Several writers and directors circled the project (including John Ridley and Oliver Stone). I remember Kurt Wimmer's first meeting regarding rewrites. Of course the producers talked to him about 'upping the action quotient'.
Posted by danmo
at April 7, 2008 3:11 PM