Cop Land

“Being right is not a bulletproof vest, Freddy.” – Gary Figgis, “Cop Land”

By the mid Eighties, Sylvester Stallone was a household name, riding on the success of the highly popular “Rocky” and “Rambo” series. The “Rocky” series spawned five movies, with the last “Rocky” movie, “Rocky Balboa” (2006), directed and written by Stallone, generating positive reviews and redeeming the Rocky’s character after a series of bad “Rocky” sequels. Stallone also re-launched Rambo’s character in “Rambo” (2008), and that was also successful at the box-office and with the critics. But despite these two compelling additions to the “Rocky” and “Rambo” series, the two series for the most part failed to live up expectations when compared to the original films in the series. By the early Nineties, Stallone’s success as an action hero was rapidly waning. He tried to resurrect his career by doing comedy, “Oscar” (1991) and “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” (1992), but they failed to reignite his image, and bad action movies after this didn’t help, either. James Mangold’s “Cop Land” (1997) starring Stallone in the lead role, managed to show Stallone’s best performance in more than a decade, a reminder of Stallone’s noteworthy performances in “Rocky” (1976) and “First Blood” (1982).

In “Cop Land” Stallone stars as Freddy, the sheriff of the small, fictional town of Garrison, New Jersey. For the most part, things are quiet in this town, but an event soon will bring the entire police department to its knees. On one eventful night, a drunken young cop, “Superboy” (Michael Rapaport), accidentally shoots two black teens when he mistakenly takes a steering wheel lock for a machine gun. “Superboy” is a nephew of another cop, Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel), and he comes up with a plan to fake Superboy’s suicide so the investigation can be closed. But Ray has other plans, too, and he worries Superboy will testify to Internal Affairs. He and his corrupt cops begin searching in the town for Superboy. Meanwhile, Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) from Internal Affairs contacts Freddy to discuss an investigation of corrupt cops hiding in the town. Things go worse when Freddy finds out about the money that Ray and his corrupt cops took from mobs, and he is soon pitted against them.

Mangold’s “Cop Land” is an entertaining movie, primarily because of its star power and a deep story line that is founded on a layered script.  The performances elevate the film, too. Surely, Stallone gives the most-understated performance of his career. Mainly known for action roles, Stallone is not your typical action hero in “Cop Land.” In fact, his role is completely the opposite of the masculine-driven characters seen in his earlier films. Stallone’s image in this film is relatively quiet and calm, unlike his earlier testosterone-driven characters in which masculinity was used to inject life into the characters. Surprising, for “Cop Land” Stallone gained a lot of weight, as he appears bulky and laid-back. This rightly suits Freddy’s character, who over the years has become relaxed in his role of a small-town Sherriff.  Inertia has so seeped into his character that when it comes to take a stand against the “bad” cops, he backs off, not because he is scared, but because of his nonconfrontational nature. At times one wonders how Freddy got promoted to sheriff. He is introverted and nice to people around him. Nonetheless, his peers are frustrated with his unconcerned attitude when he decides to turn his head the other way, in spite of knowing about Ray and his men’s rogue dealings. Indeed, “Cop Land” showcases Stallone’s most-sincere performance to date, showing he can drop his action-star persona for a more character-driven role. As veteran actors, Keitel and De Niro turn in fine performances, as well.

The film’s script could have fallen apart because of the complexity of connecting several characters by a common story line. Mangold’s script feels like a Western setup that has a mix of “good” and “bad” guys. Ron describes to Freddy differences between “boys” and “men,” which serves as a metaphor for “good” vs. “bad.” According to Ron, after all these years Freddy hasn’t grown to be a “man.” Freddy poking nose in Ron’s affairs, and knowing Freddy’s unresponsive nature, means Freddy still cannot be taken seriously by his fellow policemen. Clearly, Freddy doesn’t belong to the elite men’s club. The scene vividly depicts a shoot-out sequence from a Western movie, especially when Ron says how “men” carry their guns. Respect, honor, and ethics are brought to the forefront, as the town prepares for a duel between Ron and Freddy. Of course, this scene leads to the final shoot-out in the climax, and we see Freddy as a “man” now. The interaction with Ron shakes up Freddy, and he decides to run his own investigation to bring Ron and his men to justice. Freddy’s transformation into an assertive cop is realistic, along with the events leading to the build-up of the climax. The script nicely places every character in the story, and their contribution to the overall story is fairly significant. More important, Mangold somehow is able to make every character important by providing substantial character development and motives for their action.

“Cop Land” runs a little under two hours and is enjoyable for the most part. The middle act, nonetheless, slows down the film a bit. It takes a while before things are set in motion in the final act. This corrupt-cop drama might not be original, but its characters are instantly likeable and entertaining.

Video

“Cop Land” comes to Blu-ray using an AVC codec, framed in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The 1080p looks good, if not remarkable. The colors are warm and accurately represented in 1080p. The close-ups are good looking, revealing nice detail. The detail, overall, is consistent and packs in good information, with sharpness a bit on the softer side. The flesh tones are realistic and never appear overly smooth. There is also a nice layer of grain present, making this a film-like transfer. The print is damage-free, and white specks appear only on a few occasions.

Audio:

The lossless sound, in the form of 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, captures the mood of an action-drama movie. To begin with, the dialogue is crisp and clean. The soundtrack realistically presents ambient noises of the film’s quiet moments. Being a dialogue-driven film, the front-channels remain active throughout. The rear channels are active during the action sequences, and they effectively capture the hustle-bustle of a city. Finally, the gunshots are loud, with deep bass that adds sonic vibrancy to action sequences.

Extras:

First, we get a commentary track with eirector James Mangold and actors Sylvester Stallone and Robert Patrick. Mangold explains why he wanted to make a Western movie, and “Cop Land” was his first attempt at creating a Western movie. He then discusses the characters from the movie and how the script connects everyone in the plot. Following this, in “Cop Land: The Making of an urban Western,” Mangold talks about how the idea for this movie and its intricate script came about. We also get a set of two deleted scenes, followed by a storyboard comparison segment.

Parting Thoughts:

“Cop Land” feels like a suburban Western movie, especially the manner in which the characters and plot unfold. At the core, the film is a cop drama with action elements, featuring fantastic performances, a compelling story, and punchy lines. Looking back, there is no doubt that Stallone’s performance in “Cop Land” is the most-honest and realistic in his long career. This Blu-ray edition improves on the previous DVD release.