Cop
Car
(2015/Focus/Universal Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
There
has been a lot of hype surrounding the new Kevin Bacon vehicle, Cop
Car,
in the past few months with mainly buzzing about its engaging
cat-and-mouse style premise.
Kevin
Bacon plays a small town Sheriff who has two dead bodies in the trunk
of his police cruiser, some ammo, and a half drank bottle of booze.
Going way out in the woods to ditch the bodies, he disposes of them
one by one, leaving the other in the trunk as he steps away for a few
minutes. Well, as bad luck would have it, two runaway ten-year-old
boys happen across it and decide to live life to the fullest and take
it for a joyride, not thinking of the consequences to their action or
who they are, exactly, dealing with.
Bacon
plays his villainous role fine but I feel as if the filmmakers could
have explored his character a bit more and made him a little more
unique. I don't think this role was that
much of a stretch for him to pull off and maybe with a little more
back story on him or a little more at stake it could have had me more
hooked.
My
biggest problem with the film, however, is its abrupt ending, which
is realistic in a sense but very open ended, reminding me of the
ending to recent horror film It
Follows.
The film is stylistically put together well and overall shows some
promise with director Jon Watts at the helm, whose message behind the
film might be that the true danger may be the automobile itself and
not the murderer behind the wheel.
Cop
Car
looks great on Blu-ray disc thanks to Focus Features and is presented
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and
a crisp, lossless, English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track that is
loud and consistent throughout. There's also a digital copy of the
film for later viewing on a tablet or smart phone.
The
only extra on the disc is a featurette: Their
First and Last Ride: The Making of Cop
Car.
All
in all, Cop
Car
isn't the worst film I've ever seen but I feel could have been a
better short film than a feature or had a little more back story or
resolution. Even with it's short run time, the film still feels
pretty long. If you're a big fan of Bacon then it's worth checking
out but aside from that don't expect it stand up to a Coen Brothers
film, which is the direction to which it's aiming.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
