REVIEW (posted 2/21/03)

This movie carries a story credit by James Ellroy, and indeed, Dark Blue could be best described as L.A. Confidential meets Training Day (Day's David Ayer gets the screenplay credit) meets the L.A. riots. So maybe it's not the most original idea for a gritty cop thriller, but there's a good cast here, particularly the eternally underrated Kurt Russell as a corrupt cop who comes to realize he's being completely played by the fellow miscreants he's been taking orders from for years. If only the project had been put into the hands of a more inspired director than Ron Shelton-the Bull Durham auteur is clearly not feeling it here—it might have looked less transparently derivative. The end result will be best enjoyed by moviegoers who like to know exactly what they're getting before the lights have even dimmed.

— Glenn Kenny