Location: Portland
"Crimes against a City"
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Written by Brian Helgeland
Main Cast
Mark Ruffalo as Lt. Evan Fuller
Terrence Howard as Damien Lambert
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Jake White
Omar Gooding as Demetrius Young
Dustin Hoffman as Lt. Eric Cayton
Tagline: "In a city doomed by crime, deceit is the only way to stay on top"
Synopsis: Detroit- Present
In a city riveted by drug use and crime, Lt. Eric Cayton (Hoffman) and Lt. Evan Fuller (Ruffalo) are the driving force to clean up the city once and for all. Together, they have seized more than one million dollars worth of illicit drugs and contraband. Most of this success is due to a mole the police bureau has inside the inner workings of the city’s most prominent drug ring. Only Cayton knows the true identity of the informant and he refuses to utter his identity for fear that the city’s major drug lord, Damien Lambert (Howard), has a spy inside the agency. Cayton meets his informant once a week for orders and inside information, but this time something is different. After Cayton returns from the meeting, Fuller recognizes something is unusual with him…
Damien Lambert is without doubt the city’s dominant drug lord. A former high school narc, Labbert knows the in’s and out’s of the drug trafficking. He has the entire city under his control and nothing seems to be capable of bring him down except one Lt. Eric Cayton. Jake White (Ejiofor) and Demetrius Young (Gooding) are constantly by his side. Both have aspirations of succeeding Lambert whenever he decides to leave the business, but lately Lambert has been favoring the young Demetrius when it comes to decision-making. The newly formed bond between Demetrius and Lambert has Jake jealous and vengeful. He understands he must do something drastic if he wishes to take over for Lambert. While Jake plots his retaliation, Demetrius enjoys the perks of being Lambert’s right hand man. Women, money, drugs follow his every move. His life could not get any better and only one thing stands between him and glory: Jake. Lambert, however, has recently come across some troubling information. He has suspicions that he has a mole inside his inner circle and it is believed to be either Jake or Demetrius. Jake could potentially want revenge on him because of his new relationship with Demetrius and Demetrius could be faking his friendship towards Lambert to unexpectedly turn against him. Lambert decides that to weed out the mole, he should make his move on Lt. Cayton. He sends both Jake and Demetrius to follow Cayton to his house and kill him…
The next day Cayton is found dead in his apartment with two bullet wounds: One in his forehead and one in his back. Fuller inspects the scene and finds a note inside Cayton’s pocket. The note reads, “It had to happen” in messy handwriting and continues on to list both an address and a date. Fuller decides to investigate the case’s only lead. He goes to the address on the date listed and finds a package for Cayton. The package is full of enough evidence to bring Lambert down and a letter, which states the location and time of Lambert’s next big drop. Fuller sees this as maybe the last opportunity to bring Lambert to justice. A few days later, Fuller and his team emerge from the darkness of the shadows to discover a surprised Lambert and his team of stooges. In the movie’s climatic battle, many of the audience’s questions are answered. Will good triumph over evil? Will Cayton’s death be avenged? And the most important question…who is the mole?
What the Press would say:
Move over “The French Connection” there is a new contender for title of best drug trafficking movie. That would be Jonathan Demme’s Crimes against a City. He directs this crafty tale of drug trafficking in Detroit to absolute perfection. He plays with audience’s head by not revealing crucial information until the final scene of the movie and WOW is that an intense scene. Sure, some may draw comparisons to “The Departed”. In the new world of Oscar material, it’s easy to understand how some may draw these comparisons, but Demme honestly makes it his own. The scene I mentioned earlier maybe the best scene in cinematic history. The credit for that scene and for that, the entire film, must go to the perfectly assembled cast. Each member of this small cast give amazing performances and this is truly the definition of a great ensemble. Mark Ruffalo and Terrence Howard are superb as the film’s lead characters. Both Ruffalo and Howard give potentially the best performances of their careers. Mark Ruffalo masterfully depicts Lt. Evan Fuller. He is able to stay strong and courageous in the tough, emotional world of crime fighting. Ruffalo portrays Fuller as the everyday man that the audience will be able to relate with. Terrence Howard is magnificent as the film’s main antagonist. His ability to make Damien Lambert the man everyone hates to love is just stunning. Never in my wildest dreams did I think at the end of the movie, I would be yelling at Lambert to run away as the police emerge from the shadows. I suppose if I had to choose just one, it would be Howard, but both are so good, it could go either way. The two leads are perfectly complimented by the supporting cast of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Omar Gooding, and Dustin Hoffman. Ejiofor proves again, why he is one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors. He superbly conveys Jake’s jealous, yet subdued nature. Omar Gooding, the brother of Cuba Gooding, give a flawless performance as Demetrius Young. Gooding depicts Demetrius’ cocky and arrogant personality as if he was, in fact, Demetrius. I truly believe that this will be his breakout performance and is a sign of things to come from him. Dustin Hoffman gives a sufficient performance as Lt. Eric Cayton. He takes a back seat to allow the younger actors to control the screen. Overall, Crimes against a City is a masterpiece and can be mentioned in the same breath as “Traffic” and “The French Connection”.
FYC:
Best Picture
Best Director (Jonathan Demme)
Best Actor (Mark Ruffalo)
Best Actor (Terrence Howard)
Best Supporting Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Best Supporting Actor (Omar Gooding)
Best Original Screenplay
No comments:
Post a Comment