"Narc" is a gritty cop movie for people who like gritty cop movies. It's bloody, grimy, energetic and stylish--an impressive calling card for writer-director Joe Carnahan, whose previous credit was the less-accomplished indie "Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane."
It's also a fine showcase for two actors who seemed in danger of becoming where-are-they-now fodder: Jason Patric, who plays an undercover narcotics officer returning from retirement to seek an at-large cop killer, and Ray Liotta, one of the film's producers, who gives a memorable, intimidating performance as the dead cop's vengeance-minded, possibly crooked ex-partner.
If you don't enjoy the genre, "Narc" is unlikely to make a convert of you. This isn't a movie that transcends its conventions so much as it dresses them up nicely.
It opens with that familiar sight of a guy with a gun running after a guy with a gun, but the way Carnahan throws you into the middle of the chase--with the hand-held camera operator seemingly risking cardiac arrest as he sprints beside a panting Patric and his prey as they leap fences and stumble over uneven turf--makes you feel like gasping for breath yourself.
The set-up is almost identical to that of "Red Dragon"/"Manhunter": Nick Tellis (Patric), who has retired to a peaceful existence with his wife (Krista Bridges) and baby daughter, is lured back into the action to help solve a frustrating murder case. Detroit Police Capt. Cheevers (Chi McBride) delivers the standard cop-movie famous last words: "Just look at the files, would you?"
As you'd expect, Tellis is soon back on the street with a new partner, Henry Oak (Liotta), who's intent on hunting down whoever savagely beat and fatally shot another undercover narcotics officer, Michael Calvess (Alan Van Sprang).
Meanwhile, Tellis' marriage suffers in predictable fashion as his wife can't fathom why he's once again putting himself in danger, especially with a baby at home.
Tellis previously had immersed himself too deeply in the drug underworld (not unlike Patric's character in "Rush") only to emerge with psychic scars, a need for detox and a guilty conscience resulting from that opening-scene shootout. He's apparently seeking redemption by working on behalf of Calvess' widow and children, even as his obsession drives him to neglect his own family.
Carnahan invests enough raw emotion into this conflict that it doesn't feel too cliched--at least until Tellis' family becomes a complete non-factor in the movie's last third, which makes the dynamic feel like a cliche after all.
Oak is even more driven and intense than Tellis, and Liotta, with added bulk and a thick, frosty goatee, portrays him as a tightly coiled mass of menace. With Carnahan often shooting him in shadows and emphasizing his looming presence, Liotta hasn't been this scary since "Something Wild." Yet Oak is a far more ambiguous character than that earlier film's Ray; this guy's hair-trigger temper and violent reflexes apparently stem from a crusader's zeal for justice.
Patric, who gets away with a handlebar mustache much better than most, more than holds his own in a quieter role. He's a no-nonsense cop himself, but his eyes often betray a sense of desperation; he needs to believe in the righteousness of his mission.
Carnahan includes many of the compulsory cop-movie elements: heart-to-heart chats between the partners in a squad car, one guy shooting all bull's-eyes at a pistol firing range, kick-the-door-in raids of criminals' apartments and moments of rain-drenched violence and agonized screaming.
Carnahan gives the action a jumpy energy with an editing strategy that seems to delete all pauses between actions. The movie has snap, and Alex Nepomniaschy's camerawork emphasizes character and mood while offering such flourishes as those once-again in-vogue split screens.
The high style points help you get through some murky plotting and twists that surprise you but don't necessarily make sense in retrospect; characters with admirably complex motivations take actions that don't serve their causes too logically.
"Narc" won't make you forget "The French Connection" and "Serpico," two movies that inspired Carnahan, but reminding viewers of those films isn't such a bad thing either. With such skilled filmmaking and committed acting on display, "Narc" is far more a score than a bust.
Written and directed by Joe Carnahan; photographed by Alex Nepomniaschy; edited by John Gilroy; production designed by Greg Beale; music by Cliff Martinez; produced by Diane Nabatoff, Ray Liotta, Michelle Grace, Julius R. Nasso. A Paramount Pictures release; opens Friday. Running time: 1:45. MPAA rating: R (strong brutal violence, drug content, pervasive language).
Nick Tellis ............ Jason Patric
Henry Oak .............. Ray Liotta
Beery .................. Busta Rhymes
Capt. Cheevers ......... Chi McBride
Audrey Tellis .......... Krista Bridges
Michael Calvess ........ Alan Van Sprang