MPAA Rating: R
Director: Oren Moverman
FilmPulse Score: 6/10
Colors, Training Day, The Shield, and now, Rampart have portrayed the corrupt law officers of LAPD’s Rampart Division. The storyline seems a little stale, and essentially only serves to showcase the performances of the strong actors that sign on to these films. This time around it’s Woody Harrelson’s turn, and he does not disappoint. Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Male Lead category (and snubbed by the Academy), Harrelson delivers a stunning performance in Oren Moverman’s sophomore feature.
Set in late nineties L.A., Rampart tells the story of Dave Brown, an aging police officer with a host of personal problems. He is short-tempered, with a drinking problem and a penchant for beautiful women that often appear out of his league. Brown has two daughters, and their dysfunctional relationship with him is a major theme throughout the film. The girls’ mothers are also sisters, and the two families live next door to one another in an unconventional arrangement that serves as a source of tension throughout the story. However, the family dynamic is presented in such a straight forward manner that it’s almost easy to forget what an unusual situation theirs truly is. What really drives the film is the unraveling of the overly assured Brown, as we watch him plummet from the role of egocentric aggressor to an outsider in all aspects of his life.
In an ever-changing L.A., Brown finds there’s no place left for him in his city, his family, or in the police force. He is unwelcome in every place wherein he once drew his sense of self. “You’re a dinosaur,” his daughter tells him in one of the film’s more striking scenes. Brown is out of touch, perhaps especially with himself. Throughout the film, he constantly reminds anyone who will listen of his time in Vietnam, continually justifying his actions and motives with this piece of information that, more than twenty years after the fact, seems no longer relevant. He lives in the past, and seems unable to come to terms with the fact that the world is changing around him. What’s most disturbing about Rampart is Brown’s near manic sense of delusion. Every misguided action is justified through an elaborate story intended to prove his innocence in a series of what appear to be racially motivated instances of police brutality. Brown is continually unable to sense the repercussions of his actions, believing throughout that the tactics he employs are not only justifiable, but also acceptable in a culture of increasing ethnic, cultural, and sexual diversity.
Like Moverman’s previous film, The Messenger (also worth a watch), Rampart is a character study. And, like in The Messenger, Harrelson plays his character with a deftness that helps to overcome all of the film’s other shortcomings. Rampart is not high art, nor is its story fresh. The film market feels crowded by similar titles in which police officers face a crisis of conscience and questionable ethics. It’s an interesting watch, however, if nothing else for the incredible competence of the actors.
