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L.A. IS AT BOILING POINT. ONE COP IS TURNING UP THE HEAT.

Kurt Russell (The Thing) gives a searing performance as an L.A. cop in this story of corruption from novelist James Ellroy (LA Confidential, The Black Dahlia) and David Ayer (Training Day).

Spring, 1992. Days before the trial on the Rodney King L.A. riots. Eldon Perry (Russell), a veteran in the LAPD s Special Investigations Unit struggles with the racially charged violence erupting around him and questions his own underhand methods for dealing with them.

Featuring a support cast of some of the finest character actors including Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) delivering classic hard-boiled dialogue wrapped in a powerhouse punch of direction from Ron Shelton (Bull Durham).

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director Ron Shelton
Code Blue An archival documentary on the making of the film featuring Kurt Russell, Ving Rhames, screenwriter David Ayer, director Ron Shelton and others
By the Book An archival featurette on the look of the film featuring art director Tom Taylor, production Dennis Washington, costumes designer Kathryn Morrison and more
Necessary Force An archival featurette on the authentic portrayal of the cops in the film featuring technical advisor Bob Souza, Shelton and Russell
Trailer and TV Spots
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tracie Ching
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic James Oliver

This sounds interesting, anyone seen it?

I saw it in theaters, so it’s been a while, but I remember it being - like most of Ayer’s police films - uneven but with some worthwhile but underinvestigated concepts. The best element is the climactic depiction of the LA riots and the explicit linkage to those and the corruption and abuse of the police force (though I also remember some arguing that the film was endorsing the Russell character’s excuses for police brutality, which I didn’t agree with at the time). I’d be interested to rewatch it, especially given how much the conversation around police misbehavior has shifted in the interim.

Excellent film, far better than Street Kings which I despised.

Russell is superb in this down & dirty police corruption thriller.

The scene in which he realises his girlfriend has found someone else is among the best work he’s ever done.

Surprising and welcome choice by Arrow. Glad they’re continuing to release modern stuff following Ronin last year. Would also love to see Carnaghan’s Narc.

Was always vaguely interested in this as I remember the consensus was that it was better than the usual cop picture. And it is even though it's never exactly great. Still, there's much here I admire and appreciate. Just the fact that the Russell character (the ostensible protag) is allowed to be bluntly racist and unapologetically so as well as being ethically compromised for much of the duration is distinctive. There is a redemption arc of sorts of course but that doesn't wholly negate what came before. And the tension in that dialectic is pretty unique, too, in that it forces the question of imposing a clean moral compass, even the generally accepted one, on this material. The plot has its contrived moments (especially the ending which we can all see coming from virtually frame one) but there's real integrity at play throughout as well. Other than Burnett's The Glass Shield and maybe Rampart (maybe Colors--I'd have to see that again) I can't recall a Hollywood picture that took this particular systemic legacy of violence as seriously.

Is this not a new remaster?