Review: ‘Rampart’

Based on the pedigree of the filmmakers involved, Rampart seems like it should be a recipe for success. Director Oren Moverman, the man behind 2009’s war drama The Messenger, teams up with pulp novelist James Ellroy to tell the story of a corrupt Los Angeles cop struggling to survive, after he becomes embroiled in scandal.

As a lifelong L.A. native, Ellroy has a knack for spinning dark yarns which expose the city’s seedy underbelly. Police officers with questionable morals are his specialty, something evidenced by his thrilling books L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia. Even though Rampart takes place in a different historical era than Ellroy’s usual work, his mark on this film is unmistakable. There’s sex, drugs, and violence in ample supply.

Set in 1999, Rampart focuses on Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), a chain-smoking, booze- swilling, misogynist, who represents a dying breed in the LAPD. Dave spends his days cruising around town looking for ways to abuse his power. His nights however mostly involve womanizing and drinking, interspersed with occasional time spent with his family.

Given these habits, you’d hope that Brown would be less controversial at home, but unfortunately he’s equally dysfunctional there too, having fathered two girls from sisters (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon), who live in adjoining houses. When Brown is around, he has so little respect for them, that he propositions them both at the dinner table in front of the kids.

Just when you think Brown couldn’t be any more unlikable as a character, he becomes engulfed in scandal after he’s videotaped using excessive force on a suspect. Could this be the final wake-up call for Dave to get his act together? Nope, not by a long shot. The guy is completely unapologetic, insisting that he was just doing his job. In fact, this crap storm only drives Dave further off the deep end, until he literally hits rock bottom.

Even for an anti-hero, Brown is a thoroughly unpleasant a-hole, who doesn’t really earn your respect or admiration, despite Woody Harrelson’s committed performance. Moverman and Ellroy’s only legitimate attempt to make Brown sympathetic comes from his nickname, Date Rape Dave, a reference to vigilante justice he dispensed to a known sexual criminal. This effort seems to be for naught however, since the details of this incident as well as Dave’s actual motives for murder, are barely fleshed out through confusing dialogue.

After the Rodney King beating and the accusations of abuse that followed the LAPD in the 1990s, it seems logical for Ellroy and Moverman to tackle a film like this one that explores corruption on the police force. But Moverman fails to achieve compelling social commentary with Rampart, mainly because of his unrepentant protagonist and slow pacing. Brown is entrenched in scandal that could end his career, yet somehow it still feels like very little conflict occurs in this 115 minute movie.

Moverman uses a pseudo-documentary style of shooting to chronicle Dave’s daily life which moves at a pace so agonizing, if you watch it at home, you’ll be Googling the picture’s running time, just to see how much more you’ll need to endure. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Rampart though, is how it squanders its amazing cast. Ned Beatty, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Foster, Robin Wright, Steve Buscemi, and Ice Cube have one-dimensional roles that seem to exist more for appearances than for adding to the actual dramatic tension.

✭ ½