Some things I liked some I did not.

Disapointment

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Dark Blue is a film directed by Ron Shelton, a Director who has a taste of police dramas. Dark Blue is a film about a group of corrupt cops, with Kurt Russell being the lead, with Scott Speedmans character being the witness of these ubarable happenings. Dark Blue is a film which is definitely worth seeing, there is something about watching Kurt Russell on screen, not is he only a terrific Actor, but he is also very likable and captivating and they're aren't many actors like that in the world. Dark Blue is a slash between Antoine Fuqua's 'Training Day' & Dennis Hopper's 'Colors' in my opinion. Dark Blue is definitely one to see, though it's kind of a forgotten film to this day, when people hear about Kurt Russell, they never talk about this one, it tends to either be John Carpenters 'The Thing' (1982) or Tarantino's new 'The Hateful Eight' (2015) But in this film Kurt Russell gives a terrific performance as he always does.

******************** SPOILERS *********************Dark Blue is not a big production movie and it gives you that impression, but if it's played late in the evening, it's worth to watch. It's not one of those big FBI cases that you read in the press, it focuses more on police misconduct, racism, shootouts and internal rivalries. The positives are Kurt and Ving's acting. Russell reaches a bit at certain times, but he matches the role of the cop crook excellently; Erratic, pathetic, racist, rabid and selfish, yet sensitive and settles in the end, for repentance. His partner, and that is the general consensus, is totally out of his element. He simply was not the right choice for this role and his role itself doesn't work out. The unit is basically a bunch of dishonest cops which he seems to tag along fine, but when Russell urges him to gun down a con, he backs down ? That's kind of weird for a guy who just got cleansed for shooting a man in unnecessary fashion. The other negative is the soundtrack, it's not good, we hardly hear it and it's too generic. The race card too, bothers me, inside the police. On the other hand, there could be more ghetto bashing since it relates to the incidents of police misconduct towards ghetto residents (or simply black color skin people). The final chase doesn't make much sense, too many factual mistakes, it wouldn't take place like that and for Russell not to be spotted from the roof top, just doesn't do it.Overall, there have been far more mediocre movies than this one, it shouldn't be that discredited. I will give it a solid 7 for a movie who's pretension is not to gross profit in theaters with a high budget.

Top notch gritty police thriller based on a story from James Ellroy and written for the screen by David Ayer. Dark Blue is directed by Ron Sheldon(who normally makes sports movies) did a good job here and his approach to the material works well. Kurt Russell delivers one of his absolute best performances as Eldon Perry. Perry is LAPD detective that comes from a family that practiced law enforcement since the days of frontier towns. There is no question that Eldon is an exceptional detective with good instincts and the tough resolve necessary to be good at his occupation. However it is his methods that cross the line of the law and human decency. He is working on a homicide case with his rookie partner where he imparts his knowledge and puts him through a hazing process that he most likely went through, to show his method of law enforcement. Kurt does a great job in humanizing this corrupted and violent man on a downward spiral, of which his life is starting to rapidly go down the toilet. Dark Blue takes place in early 90's LA around the time of the Rodney King case and the riots that follow. Dark Blue definitely shows the dark side of law enforcement with corruption, blackmail and police brutality. This film is quite action packed , but is very much a character study of Eldon Perry with a astounding performance by Kurt. The very under rated Ving Rhames is also excellent as his adversary, assistant police Chief Arthur Holland who is building a case on Eldon and his partner to bring down his ultra corrupt boss Jack Van Meter. Dark Blue is a great thriller that holds up and is quite under rated in my opinion.

James Ellroy wrote the story for this between The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover. It treads familiar ground for him, spotlighting a bent, alcoholic cop (Kurt Russell) whose marriage is on the rocks and whose quest for redemption is going to destroy him. Though his novels are cinematic, the demands of filmic convention generally rob Ellroy's material of its grandeur and cause it to fall apart at the end. The backdrop of the LA Riots is very effective here in terms of atmosphere (the Watts Riots form a key part of Ellroy's first major work, Blood on the Moon), but also pretentious and unilluminating. The film's major strengths are Russell's performance and a storytelling style that braids various contrasting, interesting story strands, though elements of agreeable realism are sadly overwhelmed by the daft finale. The film bears more than a passing resemblance to Training Day, from the same scriptwriter. If you like it, check out Sidney Lumet's meticulous Prince of the City.