Bad cops with no 'Street' cred

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Director-screenwriter David Ayer ("Harsh Times," "Training Day") makes cop movies that seem derived from other cop movies, instead of directly from the mean streets he tries to convey. His "Street Kings" is another dirty cops saga, but one so cynically packaged that it's a miracle any criminals get caught in his City of Angels.

Keanu Reeves adds depth to an otherwise stale lead character, Detective Tom Ludlow, an L.A. cop who loads his gun before rolling out of bed each morning.

The film's opening sequence finds him rescuing two teenagers from some Asian thugs. Tom shoots first and doesn't bother asking questions later, but he's protected by a rising star in the Los Angeles Police Department, Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker), who understands that such dirty tactics get the job done.

Tom's ex-partner, Detective Washington (Terry Crews), wants to blow the whistle on his behavior, which includes planting evidence and swilling vodka from tiny bottles whenever he's not shooting his gun off. But before Washington can sing to an internal affairs detective (Hugh Laurie), he's gunned down during a liquor store heist.

Tom is relieved that the investigation into his behavior is buried along with Washington, but he admired his late partner and wants to find his killers. The search draws him deeper into his own troubled soul as well as that of a broken police department.

"Street Kings" pulses with deals, double-crosses and the occasional gunplay, but we're sadly disinterested in our hero's plight. The overly complex story is partly to blame, but so is a poorly realized subplot involving the death of Tom's wife that might have made him more than just another loose cannon.

"Street Kings" begins as a treatise on the line between heroism and vigilantism; it ends with the kind of narrative trickery that reinforces its inauthenticity. That manipulation distracts us from a fine supporting cast, including Chris Evans, a mustachioed Jay Mohr and John Corbett ("Sex and the City").

The dialogue, partly credited to "L.A. Confidential's" James Ellroy, ranges from profane to formulaic TV banter. The women of "Street Kings" should sue for lack of support — they exist only to humanize Tom or nudge the story forward.

"Street Kings" culminates with a scene poised to show a new side of Tom's soul, but by then there is nothing left but the echo of more gunfire.

**

TITLE: "Street Kings"

RATING: R (Adult language, drug use, violence and gore)

CREDITS: Directed by David Ayer. Written by James Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Moss

RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes

WEB SITE: www.foxsearchlight.com/streetkings

MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS