Officer Down

This action movie with Stephen Dorff in the main role is a throwback to the good old action movies from the 80's and 90's. With a great cast, this movie is, as the most of the movies directed by B. A. Miller, unfairly underrated.

Stephen Dorff has always had a dangerous, flint spark vibe to his work, and he employs it fully here in Officer Down, playing Detective David Callahan, a corrupt, volatile cop with a drug problem, and past affiliations with the wrong kind of people. This film is what many would classify as a b movie, but I for one found it a careful, well casted and acted, loving throwback to the gritty cop flicks of the 70's, something in the vein of Joe Carnahan's Narc, or even Training Day. It sets up for an out and out action headbanger, but surprised me by calming down, and subverting itself, becoming a well structured, exciting, character based crime story that had me paying attention the entire time. Callahan has a past of slumming it in shady, mob run clubs, up to his ears in coke and whores. When his crooked past comes back to haunt him in the form of clues to a forgotten cold case that conveniently seem to fall into his lap, he's spurred to dig up old, painful memories to get to the truth of what's been going on. For an out of left field indie, it has a surprisingly intricate plot that I really didn't expect, and the mid story twists are invigorating, and reminded me why I love this sub genre. The eclectic cast alone is enough to warrant interest, with many an actor cast far against type to excellent result. James Woods pisses everyone off as spitfire police captain Verona, David Boreanaz and Stephen Lang kick in great work as Callahan's suspicious colleagues. Dominic Purcell nicely underplays a strip club owning prick with silent, mirthful evil, Annalyne McCord is great as A * in mortal danger, Walton Goggins is awesome as Detective Logue, aka The Angel, who figures mysteriously in the plot, and there's nice work from Soulja Boy, Tommy Flanagan, Oleg Taktarov, and Johnny Messner in a cameo as a growling ex cop psycho. All the elements are brought together nicely to give us a bare bones, tough ass dose of character driven pulp that really enjoyable.

Officer Down needs to be watched at least twice to really comprehend what is happening. Really, a freshman college level understanding of literature to begin with is helpful in order to discuss it intelligently. Western Biblical themes such as redemption, deliverance, angels, devils, and Christ figures abound. Just about everything in it ties together or has a parallel that makes important information and concepts evident or at least available depending how deeply you want to think about it. Viewers literally should take notes as the movie is playing because all the words of the dialog seem carefully selected. An interesting irony among the symbolism is that the central driving force of a lot of what happens is the reading of a book. Actually, the thing I would change is the name of the movie which should have been called The Book because that is what it is really about. Acting and photography was excellent. Directing kept a good flow. But, I guess the other thing I would change is the music. They passed up some great potential in what could have been a powerful and memorable soundtrack if they used the right songs. Otherwise Officer Down is a refreshing, profound variation in the Dirty Harry genre.

It's always nice and refreshing to watch Stephen Dorff. He's one of the better actors, but does not have a really big blockbuster under his belt (Blade maybe, but that was a Wesley Snipes vehicle). This movie is also just a B-movie. But that doesn't mean it's bad! Quite the contrary, the story was so appealing, that quite a few good actors did sign up to make the movie. Of course quite a few things are convenient and wouldn't stand the scrutiny of the viewer thinking too much about them. There is a morality issue at hand, but there is also or at least could be an issue with the ending. The actors involved have the charisma to just pull it off, but it still may feel cheap to some.

This film was some kind of a roller coaster intellectually, with a very different dramaturgy build of the story line. The excitement isn't in this film as you expect. I think you need to be aware of this following if you are to enjoy this: 1) Watch everything with a sharp eye, down to the details of writing and dialog. 2) Be prepared to see a film where nothing is like it seems to be. 3) The slow up build is for you to understand the rest, so be patient! 4) Expect this storytelling to be very different from the common Hollywood dramatic model. 5) This is not a thriller, rather a mind bending movie. 6) Watch this you are a detective yourself. Most people watching this will have problems with it, if you're not prepared. This is a film which will have great fans, and lots of haters. It's a good film, but I must criticize it for being difficult to comprehend. It's in no way perfectly made to give the effect the makers wanted. Most of the audience are not able to follow a film like this if they are not identifying with some if the actors, or if they find the story exciting. This is where this film falls. We'll acted, doesn't mean you are absorbed with the story. Still quite good, if you have the patience. This film grows the last half hour. If you don't get it, it doesn't mean you're stupid. It just tells this wasn't your kind of mystery or that you weren't laying enough attention to the details. The great slow heavy song at the club one hour into the film is Aaron Hendra "Bad machine".

This is one of those dirty gritty cop thrillers where the line between good and bad simply does not exist. Personally I prefer these types of movies to the standard police thriller where the police are clearly on the good guys side and the suspect is clearly one of the bad guys. While some of them with a good dose of action, or a good dose of comedy, are good, it is the ones, like this one, where the black and white view of society pretty much morphs into an ugly shade of grey. The movie is set in Bridgeport Conneticuit, which I liked because of the shift away from the standard New York, Los Angeles, Chicago (or random small town) setting of most American movies. It is always good to actually move away from these standard settings to realise that all of the action simply does not happen in one of these three cities. It is also about a police officer who has managed to clean himself up after what appeared to be a random shooting (though we find out more about it afterwards) and move onto the straight and narrow. Also, right at the beginning of the film, we are also introduced to the major theme, and that is perception as opposed to reality. The idea is to project a perception of the police force so that people can have confidence in the police, and as such when it turns out that a police officer has gone bad, the who mess is swept under the carpet. However, if it is possible to hang one of them out to dry, then it can be done as well. Make an example of one of them so that all the others fall in line. This begins with an incident where our main character has finally caught up with a rapist who, after being arrested, turns out to be a cop. However, in the interview room, we also notice that on one hand, we have the lawyer trying to plead mental incapacity, and on the other hand the captain wanting to keep the whole sordid mess hush hush. The main character is portrayed very much as a loner. He goes about his own business, and investigates his own personal cases. In fact, Stephen Dorf, who is the lead actor, does a brilliant job at this. This is not a partner movie where the cops partner up and buddy buddy all the way through the film. No, there is too many skeleton's in the closet for that to happen. True, he has a good family life, but even then that was on the rocks for a while as well. In most cases, it is all about perception verse reality. It is one of those films where as it progresses, more and more becomes revealed. The perception, the illusionary veil, is slowly pierced to bring about the reality of what is going on. Even then, by the end of the film, when all is said and done, the attempt at keeping the veil intact is maintained. However, it is interesting, and whether this is based on fact or not, the film indicates that the person who was the main person responsible for the veil, while doing time, does not do as much time as the one who successfully ripped the veil to shreds (but there is a reason for that, which I won't go into).

Brian A Miller's 'Officer Down' is A Dark Cop-Drama. Its an impressive film, that delivers a gritty story convincingly along-with good performances. 'Officer Down' Synopsis: A corrupt, guilty police officer goes in search for redemption. 'Officer Down' is dark, gritty & violent. Its certainly not meant for the faint-hearted. Brian A Miller's Direction is focused. John Chase's Screenplay is convincing & the second-hour, in particular, has meaty sequences. Performance-Wise: Stephen Dorff is remarkable in the lead role. Dominic Purcell is very good. AnnaLynne McCord is a complete natural. Walton Goggins is in decent form, while David Boreanaz & Stephen Lang are routine. James Woods is fantastic in a strong supporting role. On the whole, 'Officer Down' deserves a watch.

Alas Stephen Doriff is now languishing in B movie hell. At least he had Purcell for company, now a veteran of such garbage. Officer Down is in the mould of woeful police drama/corruption/conspiracy thrillers like Dark Blue, Streets of Blood and Bad Cop ( aka Sinners and Saints) The plot is convoluted and yes you do need to pay attention to follow the plot strands. There are lots of flashbacks - all shot in black and white. A once corrupt junkie cop turned hero by accident finds his past returns to haunt him when he receives a lead regarding what appears to be a rapist. Now a reformed churchgoing character he investigates but all is not what it appears to be. Sounds interesting? Well it isn't. The direction and script are 2nd rate and no one apart from James Woods in an extended cameo clocks in a performance. Officer Down is slow, disengaging and above all really boring. Released on DVD by Anchor Bay , a distributor synonymous with B movie trash like this.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, Detective David 'Cal' Callahan (Stephen Dorff) is a family man, married with Alexandra (Elisabeth Röhm) with the teenage daughter Lanie (Beatrice Miller). Cal has an unscrupulous past, drug and alcohol addicted, and he has reborn when he was shot by a drug dealer and saved by a stranger. When a stranger meets Cal in a bar, he tells that he was the one who saved him and gives the journal of his deceased daughter to Cal. He tells to Cal that she committed suicide after Angel (Walton Goggins), a regular of a night-club owned by the drug dealer Royce Walker (Dominic Purcell) where she danced, beaten up on her and raped her in the parking area. Cal investigates Angel and when he sees the man in his car in front of the school where Lanie studies, he believes that Angel is a pedophile and Cal decides to take an attitude. But he finds that he is a marionette and someone is pulling the strings and watching him dance. "Officer Down" is a good police story with a non-linear screenplay developed like a puzzle with flashbacks and plot points that keeps the truth hidden until the conclusion. Detective David 'Cal' Callahan is tailored to Stephen Dorff that has good performance and James Woods is great as usual. The conclusion with the redemption of Cal is a little disappointing and unbelievable especially considering that Cal has a family to support and certainly mortgage to pay, and spending five years in prison does not seem to be a second chance in life. He could have accepted the report offered by Captain Verona and turned into a good cop. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Rastros de Violência" ("Violence Tracks")

(Credit IMDb) When a cop's crooked past comes back to get him, can he do the right thing, or will he succumb to the threats of his dangerous connections? Not only was this movie confusing, but boring. I wasn't really sure what Dorff's character was all about. Dorff can be a great actor when he has the right material to work with, but making crappy STD movies is not the way to go. I can't believe the cast for this kind of crap. James Woods must have been looking for a paycheck, same with David Boreanz. Dorff fans can do much better. Ironically enough, this is a similar film to another STD movie of Dorff's that is equally as terrible called, Tomorrow You're Gone 2/10