Cop Land (1997) - It Could Have Been A Contender

Director: James Mangold

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Robert Patrick, Annabella Sciorra, Michael Rapaport

Plot: Freddy Heflin (Stallone) is the sheriff of a New Jersey communtiy populated by New York City policeman and led by Ray Donlan (Keitel). As Freddy slowly discovers the town is a front for Mob connections and corruption he attempts to enlist the help of IA agent Moe Tilden (De Niro) to save the town.

I had high hopes for 'Cop Land'. It has a great cast, a good director and a fantastic premise, but after seeing 'Cop Land' I have to say I am sorely disappointed. The fact that not many people have even heard of 'Cop Land' is testament to how much of an average film this is it. Maybe average is a bit harsh, but it is by no means a classic film.

'Cop Land' has many positives with the main one being its cast. When your film has the likes of De Niro and Keitel on screen you know the acting is going to be as good as they come. What was most surprising was Sylvester Stallone, I didn't know he could act. I had seen Stallone do well in films like 'Rocky', but I didn't know he could be this good - he doesn't even mumble. His character Freddy is a complete walk over and is told what to do by the corrupt cops he is supposed to be in charge of. Stallone portays this hidden willingness to do good beautifully and when he finally steps up and takes charge he sells every scene.

Never before have I film where I know almost every actor from somewhere, there are 5 'Sopranos' actors (Artie Buco, Carmela Soprano, Gloria Trillo, Carlo Gervasi and Phil Leotardo all popping up) Noah Baumbach from 'The Truman Show', Janeane Garofalo has a minor role and even an actor from 'The Wire' is in the background of one scene. Its not really a critical point and maybe a waste of a paragraph but it's just something I noticed.

    

To get back to reviewing, 'Cop Land' both benefits and suffers from its great premise of a town full of corrupt cops who basically do whatever they want. This idea is never executed well enough and some of the cops themselves are given no depth as crucially we never really see them do their job and be cops. This is one of the films main flaws as we are given nothing to grasp onto with the villains are they come off very two dimensional - even head honcho Harvey Keitel who aside from a vague story about a fellow cop he killed, is given no depth.

Robert De Niro has a small but pivotal role in the story as IA agent Moe Tilden who informs Stallone's sheriff of the corruption going on under his nose. Then he all but disappears from the movie, which is a shame because he seemed to be one of the more interesting characters. Ray Liotta meanwhile appears to just have walked off the set of 'Goodfellas' as he looks exactly the same and plays more or less character with him being a cokehead, banished from his group. Liotta is fine as cop Figgsy, but his character doesn't feel essential other than some throwaway pieces of advice to Freddy (which I don't think he even follows).

Aside from the characters and premise, the biggest problem with 'Cop Land' is that it takes soooooooo long to get going and set up the plot. It's not until at least an hour in where you get a clear idea of what the film is trying to do, as the first half feels awfully disjointed and the only real saving grace is Stallone who carries much of the movie. When the film does pick up however it is hugley entertaining as Stallone finally confronts the cops that pushed him around for so long and we get some tense scenes and great action.

If the first half wasn't so poorly put together and we had better 'villians' I probably would love this, but thats basically saying why didn't they make the film I wanted them to make. 'Cop Land' is a good film but a very disappointing one and although this review may seem mostly negative, I did enjoy 'Cop Land' when it got going. I would recommend this completely but just don't be expecting the 'Goodfellas' of cop movies. Oh and if I didn't say already Stallone was fantastic.

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