Narc (2002) Paramount/Drama-Thriller RT: 105 minutes Rated R (strong brutal violence, drug content, pervasive language) Director: Joe Carnahan Screenplay: Joe Carnahan Music: Cliff Martinez Cinematography: Alex Nepomniaschy Release date: December 17, 2002 (US, limited)/January 10, 2003 (US, wide) Cast: Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, Chi McBride, Krista Bridges, Busta Rhymes, Richard Chevolleau, Alan van Sprang, Anne Openshaw, Stacey Farber, Tony De Santis, John Ortiz, Marilo Nunez. Box Office: $10.4M (US)/$12.6M (World)
Rating: *** ½
The intense cop drama Narc is about as far from Lethal Weapon as a movie can get without leaving the bounds of the genre. Whereas Mel Gibson and Danny Glover go about busting perps in a joking manner, Jason Patric (Rush) and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) take their job very, VERY seriously. You’ve heard of “Good Cop, Bad Cop”? These guys are “Bad Cop, Worse Cop”. Which one is which depends on the minute.
Written and directed by Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces), Narc is a cold, gritty crime drama set in the mean, dirty streets of Detroit. It’s the time of year when the skies are as bleak and gray as the main characters’ surroundings. It’s in this foul, unsightly urban wasteland that we first meet undercover narc Nick Tellis (Patric) as he chases a drug dealer through streets and backyards, over fences and through somebody’s house. Filmed with a handheld camera, the picture shakes and jumps constantly giving it a disorienting effect. It ends in a playground where Nick accidentally shoots a pregnant woman causing her to miscarry. Although he also kills the dealer, he’s kicked off the force.
18 months later, Nick is offered a chance at reinstatement. The guilt-ridden ex-narc is asked by Capt. Cheevers (McBride, Gone in 60 Seconds) to look into the shooting death of another undercover cop. That means going back undercover to reconnect with his old contacts. He initially refuses. He doesn’t want to put his family through that kind of hell again. At the same time, he needs redemption. He reluctantly agrees to accept the assignment on the condition he’s partnered with the dead cop’s partner Henry Oak (Liotta), a cynical loose cannon whose methods aren’t exactly moral or legal. He’s armed, volatile and extremely dangerous. This is a cop who thinks nothing of brutally assaulting a prisoner right there in the station.
The two cops aren’t exactly a match made in heaven. Henry’s immediately suspicious of the younger cop. He asks Nick if he’s working for Internal Affairs. He goes on to say the department isn’t really interested in solving the case; they just want to bury it. It’s clear Henry doesn’t want to work with Nick. He keeps shutting him out. It’s like he has a private agenda.
Nick’s home life isn’t rosy either. His wife Audrey (Bridges, Land of the Dead) is against him returning to the police force. She hates the effect the job has on him. He tells her that won’t be the case this time, but she doesn’t buy it. She wants him to be around to see their infant son grow up. As expected, it quickly becomes a source of friction.
That’s really all there is to say about the plot. It doesn’t really matter since Narc is driven more by character than plot. Here we have two dedicated cops, one bad and the other a little less so. They both believe in doing whatever it takes to get the job done. They question suspects and other assorted lowlifes with no regard for their civil rights. If they have to beat information out of somebody, so be it. They’re definitely NOT heroes. You’re not sitting there rooting for them as they dispense their idea of justice. If anything, you’re shocked by their flagrant disregard for procedure and common decency. This is so NOT a fun cop movie.
The two lead performances are phenomenal. Liotta excels at playing unhinged characters like Henry Oak. He’s definitely aged since playing coke-fuelled mobster Henry Hill in Goodfellas. He’s heavier and sports a bushy, graying beard. A deep cauldron of rage bubbles right beneath the surface; it’s just waiting to boil over. It does a few times like when he “interrogates” a couple of suspects in an auto body shop. He’s scarier than a lot of criminals. Patric is totally believable as a guilt-driven cop in a moral quandary. He wants to catch a cop killer, but how far is he willing to go in pursuit of justice? Is he willing to go to the same lengths as his partner?
While there’s nothing fun about Narc, there are flashes of dark humor that lighten the mood ever so slightly. One involves a dead drug dealer who bought the farm by trying to smoke dope through a loaded shotgun. The other involves a junkie who set his girlfriend’s hair on fire for giving him VD, very painful VD. These bits are funny in the blackest sense. Things like this can only happen in the drug subculture.
Narc is a stylish, neo-noir film. The frenzied editing and harsh cinematography will be a turn-off to some, but it’s the exact right look for a movie set in a world ruled by injustice and brutality. It’s a world inhabited by junkies, dealers, morally ambivalent cops and arrogant suits motivated by politics. Carnahan pulls no punches in his depiction of it either. Narc hits hard while telling a compelling story with an ending reminiscent of Rashomon. I think it’s a great film. It’s bleak, realistic, unsettling and will leave you feeling unclean. Who says all cop movies have to be feel-good affairs?
