It doesn't sound too promising -- Woody Harrelson as a veteran of the LAPD who once shot a date rapist and now, years later, seems to be scapegoated by the division because of an unfolding scandal. Somebody has to go and Internal Affairs is out to see that somebody does.It sounds like another LAPD shoot-'em-up with a bloodbath every ten minutes but it's not. No shots have been fired, and no explosions have occurred. There's not even a high speed pursuit by cars, planes, boats, trains, or bicycles.Instead Harrelson, in a very nicely textured performance, his head stylishly shaved bald, is presented as a tough and embittered cop whose social life is a fetid swamp of pathos. He appears to have two wives (or girl friends or sisters) or maybe three. Each makes an occasional appearance in his life but he screws up the bond one way or another.One of the ways is that he extorts over-the-counter leapers and sleepers from a pharmacist. Another way is that he seems to sip from a pint of booze as he drives around the city alone in his black-and-white. He makes absurd demands of people and when they don't play his game he becomes furious.All of the performances are good, particularly those whose relationship with Harrelson is ambivalent, and who find themselves trapped in an approach/avoidance conflict.But Harrelson, hung over, sweaty, falling down drunk, could probably carry the film by himself.He's given a great deal of help by the director Oren Moverman who lends the images a slightly arty effect, sometimes a little too arty. Woody drives in despair through the night and the camera gives us a nice close up of his ear, silhouetted by the headlights of the cars behind him. Oh, yes -- his left ear. But at other time he trusts the viewer enough to figure out what's happening off screen. The location shooting is fine too, capturing the shimmering heat of Los Angeles' streets, the sunshine and smog.There is no redemption at the end, either, and I kind of liked that. It's a good evocation of despair. The screenplay originated with James Ellroy, whose values you may or may not like. I don't. He's said in interviews that the police should be given free rein on the streets and not interfered with by the suits. His sympathies probably lay with this Dirty Harry character rather than with the division's attempt to clean itself up.

I'm usually the guy bitching about how the writing was absent and it never matters much about anything else if the story is lacking yet this film makes a convincing counter-argument. From the depths of an incomprehensible script and an overload of baggage in the form of auxiliary characters Woody Harrelson single-handedly rescues this film from me screaming at the ticket booth for a refund.The story makes almost no sense. Why does he murder the guy from the card game? Why does he even show up at the Crystal Palace? A robbery? Why would dudes have an illegal card game in full view of the freaking sidewalk? And then there just happens to be a robbery while he is watching? It was supposed to be an unarmed card game yet it looks like he had a gun as he was chasing the thieves (and why would he chase armed thieves without a gun?). Too much and too stupid. He's under a heated investigation as it is then he murders someone for no reason? Or did I miss the reason? OK, I can handle a little bit of family tension but two families? Too much, once again. I almost rated this movie ten stars simply to offset the one star ratings which seem completely stupid to me. If you are looking for explosions, car chases, snappy catch-phrases, and buddy cop repartee then look elsewhere. With that said I realize this movie was completely lacking in plot, pacing, and structure.

This is a seriously awful film. Pointless, depressing, self indulgent. Well over an hour of my life that I will never get back. Compelling drama? Yes of course because I was dying to see if the film actually got any better! And when it was over guess what? It never got better than the first 10 minutes. You can watch this movie on fast forward and know the plot line, guess the script (i still can;t believe there was a script involved) and might make it marginally more entertaining. No idea why Sigourney Weaver got involved in this as the cast list looked like it might have been worth while. Never been so deflated. Glad we didn't pay to watch this!

(18%) One of those rare movies that has some really good aspects, the main one being Woody Harrelson's very strong central performance, but overall this is frustrating misfire. By the 30th or so minutes in this feels like it's padding itself out without giving anything in return in terms of real substance, it's all just bits and pieces spoon fed every so often. This does eventually get itself going, but again it's very much one step forward one step back as it just doesn't go that one step further needed to make this a worthy film. It is almost as if Harrelson and the director are both trying to whip up some much needed energy, but they can only go so far with it before hitting a brick wall. The supporting cast is more distracting than impressive with famous faces popping up and quickly going away again, almost as if they all had a gap between projects so agreed to appear in this for a few days pay because there's no real reason why such big name stars would play such minor roles in a police drama. This, like the similar "End of watch" is a well acted, but pitifully low content failure of a movie that proves a good central performance isn't enough to make a good movie.