Review: Cop Land

   
    Movie of the Week (3/10/13-3/16/13): Sylvester Stallone is known for his high octane action movies and is known more as an action star by most people and gets slammed by a lot of critics. However, Cop Land, from 1997, shows that Sylvester Stallone is a very good actor. Cop Land focuses on a sheriff, Stallone, of a small New Jersey town where a lot of the cops in the NYPD live, but soon he realizes that a lot of them are dirty in trying to cover up a murder committed by one of their own.
    The first thing to start with would be the cast, which is an A-list cast at that. We have Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, and Robert De Niro. As you can see, with a cast this good it is almost impossible to not have a good movie on your hands. Robert De Niro plays the detective trying to figure out what is going on and why. Ray Liotta as a friend who messes up but tries and help. Finally, Harvey Keitel and Robert Patrick play two of the many dirty cops trying to cover up the murder by attempting to kill the cop that committed it. The sheriff, Stallone, tries to find the cop, played by Michael Rapaport, before he is killed.
    The acting is very good by Stallone and it is probably his best performance ever because it is not like the many other characters he plays. He embraces this role with much emotion and gained 40 pounds for the role to look like an older sheriff who couldn't make it in the NYPD. Harvey Keitel also does a great job, as usual, as the leader of the dirty cops by showing his ability to take control of a scene when he is in it. Ray Liotta and Robert Patrick also deliver very well in showing how determined they are with their roles, especially when they share a scene together.
    The acting is great, but what makes this movie even better is the direction and the writing. James Mangold wrote and directed this great crime drama, one of his first. You can truly tell that he had almost complete control on what he wanted to put on screen because of the pace and the feel of the movie. It is a dialog driven film in a lot of scenes, especially scenes with Harvey Keitel, who controls the scenes with his dialog. It is a well written piece of cinema that got overlooked.
    Again, this is a crime drama with some great dialog in it, so don't go in expecting a great action picture. However, that being said all of the investigation and great dialog scenes between all of the great actors leads somewhere. It leads to a great, well written but short, shootout climax between several of the main characters shown in the perspective of the sheriff, Stallone, because of a physical ailment he suffered from. You will understand once you see it. This is a well acted, well directed, and well written underrated crime drama that should be seen. 3/4 Stars.