On the run from a lethal assassin, a wily con artist devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station-but when the hitman turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.
Chuck says:
Life’s too short to have to sit through movies like Joe Carnahan’s Cop Shop. Derivative and mean-spirited, this action film wallows in its gratuitous violence and pithy F-Bomb laden dialogue to the point of tedium. Frank Grillo is a government informant who purposely gets arrested so that he can be kept safe from a hitman (Gerard Butler) who’s on his tail. The killer follows suit, the pair now each in lock-up, where we’re treated to flashbacks filling us in on who did what to who and why.
You’ve seen all of this before and while Carnahan has always emulated Quentin Tarantino, he lacks that filmmaker’s sense of humor and style. There’s a vindictive tone to the film that makes it off-putting, almost as much as the fact that it takes nearly two hours to tell a story that could have been done in 45 minutes. As a critic, I suffer so you don’t have to. Don’t allow my sacrifice to be in vain. Stay away from Cop Shop.
1 1/2 Stars
Pam says:
Look away, people. There’s nothing to see here. Truly, there is absolutely nothing new, interesting, or entertaining to see in “Copshop” where ridiculous situations, blood-splattering killings, and characters you could care less about find themselves in all fighting for their lives. With a badass female in the lead as the head cop, Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), the role becomes nothing more than a stereotypical male replaced by a woman. Gerard Butler sinks to a new level as a crime leader’s hitman playing games to bring down a snitch. To give this film any more time would be a disservice to myself. Skip this movie.
