Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

ridiculous rating

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This is a great movie. Tons of famous actors. Sly did a great job acting. One of his best jobs. Worth a watch.

After the Rocky film franchise "ended" (at least for the time being) in 1990, Sylvester Stallone starred in a few clunkers (Demolition Man & Judge Dredd being first and foremost) that really put a drag on his reputation for being a serious actor outside of Rocky/Rambo flicks. In 1997, though, Stallone signed on for a much more dramatic turn in "Cop Land", and actually garnered some decent reviews from the critics. Unfortunately, I'm here to tell you to ignore those high marks...this is one of the most boring films you will ever watch.Basically, the plot of this film centers on the town of Garrison, a police officer-prolific community that seems to have a bit of a shady past. All it takes is a little incident on the force, then, to finally spur Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone) into action to set things right by exposing the corruption.At face value, that cop-conspiracy plot isn't all that terrible if you can get into that kind of stuff. The glaring problem, however, is this: an astounding lack of interesting characters. For the plot of the movie to really suck viewers in, you have to be able to hate the bad guys and at least root for the good guys. I was completely ambivalent to both causes. The corrupt cops are completely two-dimensional (no interesting side plots or character quandaries to make you think), and that is more that can be said about Stallone's Heflin, who is easily one of the most uninspiring "heroes" I've ever seen up on the big screen.Thus, with a cast of decent characters this could have been a much better overall effort. As it were, though, acting talents such as Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, and Robert Patrick were completely wasted by a script that didn't allow them to develop. For an alternative, I would highly recommend Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River", roughly in the same genre as "Cop Land" but oh so much more interesting.

In 1997 this was Director Mangold's first venture into big time Hollywood, and look at the cast, Robert De Niro, Liotta, Keitel, but the biggest surprise (even to himself) was Stallone. The latter plays the overweight, overlooked sap of a Sheriff, Freddy Heflin, who is charged with looking after 'Copland', being the homes and families of the the 'real' cops who work over the river.This is an excellent ensemble cast that really shines in their roles, and Stallone, as I said before, is a revelation. He piled on about 40lbs to play the part, so what we see is not the pumped-up, testosterone driven action man we have come to know and love, but a quieter, humbler, slightly "slow," kind-a bumbling character. Sad and ineffectual, he's barely tolerated by Donlan and his cronies, who's company he so desperately wants to keep. The story is tight and economical, the dialogue has the ring of authenticity to it, and there's a bitter-sweet romantic sub-plot between Freddy and one of the town's residents that works perfectly within the story. There's a scene where he's asked, by the woman he secretly loves, why he didn't marry, "All the best girls were taken," he replies, and you can practically see the big guy's heart breaking in two! The scene where Stallone and Sciorra finally come together in his home to the Springsteen songs "Stolen Car" and "Drive All Night" (both from his 1980 double album "The River") is both tender and beautifully judged. The acting too is uniformly brilliant. Keitel is all power corrupted (lets a fellow officer fall from a TV aerial who's been soiling his sheets at home), DeNiro is the driven investigator trying to bring truth back to the force and Liotta is a cocksure wise-ass cop - until an insurance scam fire-bombing he arranged goes drastically wrong. The sweating jerky Michael Rapaport as Babitch is superb too - suspecting that his life is not just screwed but in danger from his 'pals'. All are fabulous. But its Stallone's journey back to being a real man and doing what's right that keeps you glued.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

This movie is an absolute gem! A slow burn, no doubt, but every scene -every moment- pays off.I wonder how different this movie's legacy would be if it were released nowadays. Everything that audiences love about Breaking Bad or True Detective etc is here in spades.In fact, I'd argue that this film is the 2nd season of True Detective that people wanted. An absolute perfect urban western.And the performances are just incredible. Every single actor is bringing their "A" game, and an argument could be made that each one gives one of the, if not THE, best performances of their careers. I wish Stallone would do more movies like this, because he clearly has the chops. Deniro as well (who has since become regulated to flaccid studio fare). Just because he can't pull off Cape Fear excellence anymore doesn't mean he has to do The Intern.I hope something happens that causes people to revisit this film.