Dark Blue

2002 Directed by Ron Shelton

1992, L.A is at boiling point. One cop's turning up the heat

Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.

Kurt Russell Scott Speedman Michael Michele Brendan Gleeson Ving Rhames Kurupt Dash Mihok Jonathan Banks Lolita Davidovich Khandi Alexander Dana Lee Chapman Way Marin Hinkle Jim Cody Williams Eloy Casados Graham Beckel William Utay Joe McChesney Master P Jamison Jones Faleolo Alailima Eddie Mui Kaila Yu Keith MacKechnie Darrell Foster Nigel Gibbs Carmen Twillie Michael Bentt Tom Todoroff Show All…

Alternative Titles

4-29-92, The Plague Season, Dark Blue - Die Farbe der Korruption

crime

118 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Nakul ★★★ 2

Dark Blue is a fairly engaging crime thriller, that maybe with another director could've been much better. The idea of film set against the backdrop of the Rodney King riots in LA '92 had so much potential but it adds nothing new to the corrupt cop genre. Kurt Russell is great in it, his performance alone elevates the entire movie.
Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★★

RECOMMENDED BY Don
Set in the backdrop of the Rodney King murder trial in 92, David Ayer (who boy had a great career in the early 00s) adapts a story by James Ellroy and directed by Ron Shelton (White Men Can't Jump), about a corrupt cop (Russell) whose days of corruption seems to be over as racial tension rises and a section of the police department (Arthur Holland played by Ving Rhames) seeks to clean things up from deep within.
Ayer sensibilities and obssesive love for LA and stereotypes can be felt, especially towards the first half, but just like Russell's character tries to seek for some redemption, the script itself becomes much and much better. Another thing that I…
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★★ 5

Springcrime - The April & May Project
Whenever I do a review of a film that stars Kurt Russell, I always fight a battle with myself.
I always try and make it so that it's not just another load of fanboy gushing about how amazing he is and how I want him and Goldie to adopt me if my family are wiped out by a runaway lorry or something. But I always, always fail.
I set myself up to try and do the same here but I am going to fail again. This time it's for a different reason. Or perhaps that's because this is a different performance. I've often said that Russell knows his limitations as an actor. He's always…
Review by 𝑤𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑢𝑚 ★★★½

you got to be heartless in my line of work
this is a cold film. it feels lifeless. not in a bad way just in a theme. it shows how far up the corruption can go from society to the badges who took an oath to protect us. there is no character to connect with as they all feel like their sifting around in the rot. it’s a shame this released around the time other cop films explored these vibes cause now it feels drowned in them. but against those it still feels colder in atmosphere. some of the dialogue/writing is bad and has a few editing errors
kurt is probably the only character who gets somewhat of an arc and it’s hard to connect with him from all the dirty shit he has to do. but dammit he’s just so good on here and directly outshines everyone else on & offscreen
Review by ryan john ★★★★ 2

Watch as Kurt Russell destroys the American hero archetypes he helped build through the 80s + 90s with his downright detestable portrayal of corrupt cop Eldon Perry.
Dark Blue takes place during the Los Angeles riots in 92 where the city itself is racially divided, the opening sets up the coldness the rest of the film carries with the first shot of the movie being a video of the Rodney King beating: this sets up Dark Blues police corruption scandal which plays out for the duration of the movie alongside the riots backdrop.
Dark Blue does such a good job at framing the police for what they are and it is anything but the lawful protection, trust and honesty they…
Review by Ghostsmut ★★★★½ 1

On the Bone Tomahawk blu ray there is a special q&a where they discuss that this film is Kurt Russell's best role. On rewatch I agree. Of course, I still prefer his characters in Big Trouble, Escape, Captain Ron, The Thing, etc, but he puts in an incredible performance in this.
It's a shame that the inferior Training Day came out at the same time and took all the limelight.
Review by Mark Mooney ★★★★ 2

Set in Los Angeles in April 1992, just days before the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King and the following L.A. riots. Kurt Russell is veteran detective Eldon Perry who tutors rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) in the tough realities of police intimidation and corruption, Perry and Keough are assigned a high-profile quadruple homicide where they must track down the cold-blooded killers and face their own demons ... Dark Blue is one of the overlooked gems of the '00s with Russell on excellent form, ably supported by Brendan Gleeson, Lolita Davidovich, Jonathan Banks and Ving Rhames.
Review by Danny B ★★★★ 4

A surprisingly compelling corrupt police thriller. I also thought, being an Arrow release, this was from the '80s or' 90s, not the early 2000's. Setting it during the Rodney King riots certainly made for an very interesting take at the events and tension surrounding attitudes towards the police at the time. Kurt Russell is a very good lead with a morally questionable corrupt cop who's pretty well developed throughout (Early on I started to pretend I was watching a Tango and Cash sequel, which worked too well). I always love going into a film knowing next to nothing about it, as I really had no idea where this thing was gonna go, which actually led to a genuinely unpredictable finale that didn't go where I expected at all. A very underrated police drama that's very worth checking out.
Review by Jacob Knight ★★½

Exhibit A when discussing a mediocre movie that showcases a wildly entertaining (not to mention against type) turn from a major movie star. But that’s the David Ayer way from TRAINING DAY on. Only problem is: neither he nor Antoine Fuqua are directing here. Instead, it’s Ron Shelton, who was coming off the utterly putrid PLAY IT TO THE BONE. It’s totally watchable, yet you just can’t help but wonder what else could’ve been, especially given Kurt Russell’s truly dynamic, menacing presence and the supporting cast (minus Scott Speedman, who looks like Scott Stapp and is probably a worse actor).
Review by Mark Costello ★★★★

Another David Ayer scripted corrupt LA cop drama, for me, this got caught up in the wake of his previous year's Training Day and overlooked. Having now finally caught up with it, I can say that the star here isn't Russell, Ayer or Ron Shelton. The star here is James Ellroy.......
Even if Ellroy famously came out and said that the film bears nothing of his original script (Ayer completely rewrote it), Ayer at least managed to give it some of Ellroy's hallmarks, notably the placing of flawed and interesting characters in the middle of an almost labyrinthine plot. And here, its that that separates this out from Ayers previous film - taking place during and immediately after the Rodney…
Review by kynky ★★★½ 1

FILMS I OWN THAT I’VE NEVER SEEN
Cult Of Personality 2020
52 Years In 52 Weeks: 2020 Edition.
63/100
Seeing Kurt playing a corrupt LA cop is actually quite a bit of brilliant casting as we're just so used to cheering him on.
This film follows his new partner as he gets wrapped up in the world of police corruption and the fact that the LA riots are about to kick off because of the Rodney King beatings!
It's a gritty cop movie that really captures the early 90's aesthetics and has a great soundtrack too.
Newest addition to my HIDDEN GEMS™ list.
Review by Tim McClelland ★★★★

A gritty cop thriller that keeps things interesting with Kurt Russell delivering the way he does.

Recent reviews

Review by Michael Dennos ★★

I honestly don't have a lot to say about Dark Blue other than that it's your typical corrupt cop fare, which gives it a pretty bland and boring feel a lot of the time. The script is written by David Ayer, and it just feels like an uninspired extension of his work on the Training Day script. Setting it during the 1992 Rodney King riots is admittedly an interesting little addition, and it does actually give the film a certain topical relevancy right now especially, but the film never really capitalizes on that in any worthwhile way. Instead, this is just your standard dirty cop fare that you can find better examples of elsewhere. Kurt Russell is legitimately strong in this, though -- I mean, of course -- and he has a pretty great monologue towards the end, but that's about it for Dark Blue.
Review by Henry ★★

boring
Review by Robnrel ★★★

Between Kurt Russell and Scott Speedman, there sure is a lot of handsome going on here...
Review by Emmett ★★★½

Really enjoyed this one, flawed as it is. Dark Blue is at its strongest as a gritty, freewheeling ride through a corrupt and violent cop's life on the eve of the Rodney King riots, and at its weakest when devoting screentime to police department politics. There are many scenes in this film that come across as imitation-Tarantino nearly as potent as the real thing. Kurt Russell gives an incredible performance that holds the film together, and I was astounded when I realized the guy playing his partner isn't Heath Ledger!? Another weak point of the film was the really odd musical choices. Overall, another underrated and overlooked 2002 gem.
Review by Shandy87 ★★★★½

A fantastic tale of police corruption, race wars and tensions back in 90s in America
With a good cast and a great lead of Kurt Russell. A fantastic pace of movie with edge of your seat moments
A movie that if you have chance to see I would definitely recommend a watch
Review by head2wall ★★★★★

Somehow I had never heard of this movie until the other day and was blown away. Highly recommend this movie.
Review by Joseph Pallas ★★★★

The last great David Ayer script that, much like his most renowned work Training Day, seeks to diagnose the causes and effects of oppressive policing. Like Training Day, Dark Blue is hampered by an excessive amount of car ride dialogue that’s all shot with the actors obviously in vehicles on trailers that do place a drag on the momentum of the film (thank you Peter Weller for pointing this out) and features a rookie moral compass character who’s less engaging than his crooked grizzled partner. The focus is reversed between the two films though, with Scott Speedman’s fresh hire taking a back seat to the musings and maimings of Kurt Russell’s old hand detective. It’s a small change as like…
Review by abalsiger ★★★½

Kurt Russell fucking rules in this movie. Score sucks but the soundtrack is awesome.
Review by Phil ★★★½

The kind of movie where at some point one of my friends would mutter something like "Man, I hate these fucking cops". This time it was me and it took me about 10 minutes.
Review by Hussein Khoder ★★★

Orchard and Sidwell need their on film.
Review by dopefiend ★★★½

Long winded but entertaining
Review by boominowski ★★★

Conceptually rich but aesthetically lacking. Other than the final scene in which Kurt Russell’s pathetically corrupt Eldon Perry gazes at a burning Los Angeles that parallels his own destruction, I don’t think there’s a remarkable shot in the entire film. Russell’s co-star underwhelms and exudes youthful naïveté to the point that it compromises believability. Dash Mihok and Kurupt are an entertaining pair but come across as inappropriately comic and aloof. It’s worth it for Russell’s performance alone, but I’m left thinking about how good this one could’ve been.