Street Kings felt like one of those gritty cop dramas that should have gone direct-to-DVD but got just enough of a boost for a theatrical run before resigning to the home video arena. It ranked a few notches above the average Steven Seagall, Chuck Norris, or Jean Claude Van Damme pic, but still lacked a compelling story or competent direction. Yet it did well enough to ensure that fans of the crime drama genre would pick it up on DVD, and consequently it has spawned a sequel which falls short of the meager expectations set by the original. Whereas Street Kings had Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans and Terry Crews, the weight of Street Kings 2: Motor City falls squarely on Ray Liotta’s shoulders, but the man hasn’t been up to that kind of challenge in years. In Liotta’s better days he could have helped to elevate the film above its poor script and direction while propping up those around him—today, he’s just another passenger on the sinking ship.
Detective Marty Kingston (Liotta) finds himself partnered with the comparable rookie Detective Fowler (Shawn Hatosy) as they attempt to discover who’s killing off the other officers in Kingston’s covert narcotics sting team. The streets of Detroit are a dangerous place, but they’re even worse when half the cops on the force are dirty and working against you. As Kingston and Fowler get closer to the corruption eating his team from the inside out, he finds that people he once trusted will stab him in the back and that he has allies in unexpected places.
Hatosy and Liotta perform decently, but Liotta has lost a lot of the restraint and careful calculation that used to make his roles so memorable. Hatosy on the other hand is still coming into his own. It’s interesting to see the two approaching it from opposite directions, but not interesting enough to let you overlook the obvious “twists” of the story.
DVD Bonus Features
Featurettes include a smattering of deleted scenes and the creation of the various crime scenes and the steps taken to make them real-to-life. Other pieces explore the city of Detroit as a canvas (which pales in comparison to a similar extra recently made for The Town) and the elements required to make a good cop drama.
"Street Kings 2: Motor City" is on sale April 19, 2011 and is rated R. Crime, Drama. Directed by Chris Fisher. Written by Ed Gonzalez, Jeremy Haft. Starring Ray Liotta, Shawn Hatosy.
