It's 1983 in the South Louisiana bayou country. Lt. Bud Case with the Baton Rouge PD is able to arrest Aryan Jesse Weiland the subsequent result of an undercover operation on a precious gems fencing operation, Weiland who has an arms length prior rap sheet of various criminal offenses. While Case only has possible weapons and burglary charges against Weiland which could still place him behind bars for decades, Case believes there is more to what Weiland has been involved in based on his cool demeanor, meaning that he has some powerful people behind him who he expects will be able to get him free. Case learns that Weiland's main role in the criminal world is as a contract killer, and as such probably knows where bodies are buried which if known by the authorities could place his employers away. Facing potential life in prison with the priors and parole violation, Weiland, largely for the sake of his wife Lynn and their newborn son Tommy, decides to accept Case's offer to help collect evidence to bring down one of the biggest crime rings in the area led by Lutin Adams. Part of that negotiation includes placing Lynn and Tommy in hiding in the guise to Weiland's associates of she having gone away due to them having marital problems. As they get further into this operation and as Lutin suspects there is a snitch in his operation as one problem after another starts to arise, Case and the Weilands' lives could be in further danger if they are discovered. On Case's side, not all is smooth either as he has continuing issues with who the Attorney General's office in Washington has assigned to the case, Martin Fitch, who Case considers a neophyte and pretentious prick. In 1980s Louisiana a police detective (W.Dafoe) arrests a contract killer (M.Dillon). To be with his wife (Amy Smart) and newborn, he becomes an informant and assists in taking down the crime ring boss etc. FBI, blood and revenge follows. … and the answer of course is no.<br/><br/>Since he first burst on scenes playing (not joking) Jesus, he has never been less than mesmerizing.<br/><br/>(And his work in Shadow of the Vampire, 2000, never got the acclaim it deserved).<br/><br/>I mention that because cops and robber movies have been around since the silent films but the performances of Dafoe playing against Dillon (never better here, strong physicality, amazing he never played bad guys before) is the heart and soul of this picture, and it keeps you glued to the screen.<br/><br/>Interesting that they used a near-A lister like Amy Smart merely as eye candy, with almost no dialogue. Not that she was less than fetching, but it was an odd bit of casting. just saw the rating of 5.6 on IMDb and that is just a run of the mill rating or a little above that. myself personally i give it a 7. it was not a great movie and it was not intended to be. it is a nicely paced cops and robbers movie with some solid actors in it.<br/><br/>man! i think i have not seen Bill Duke since his role as a commando in the movie "commando". OK…, the two main leads in the movie are actually Willem Dafoe and Matt Dillion with a good supporting cast including Amy Smart, Neal Mcdonough and a unrecognizable Tom Berenger in a very good performance and a fine Bayou accent.<br/><br/>like i said, if you're looking for Oscars look somewhere else…but if you are in the mood for a well-done cops and robbers movie with action you probably will not be disappointed. the movie is not unbelievable and is base on a true story. Dafoe and Dillion did not throw out any Oscar worthy performances but still did very solid jobs. they did not just come for their paychecks and Tom Berenger actually had the best performance out of the whole cast. he was a very creepy dude and i could not recognize him and he is one of my favorites.<br/><br/>all in all, a good cops and robbers movie that is pretty well paced, had its share of action and the 100 minutes of this movie went by pretty fast. i would recommend this movie to cops and robbers fans and fans of Dafoe, Dillion and Berenger.
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347 weeks ago