Rampart is Straight Outta LAPD
An edgy, prize-worthy performance by Woody Harrelson as uncomfortable and raw-knuckled as a bruised fist elevates Rampart. It’s a lacerating look at the life of a dirty cop, set during the immoral, violent and headline-making lawlessness of the Los Angeles Police Department in the Rampart squad scandals of 1999. The background and a lot of the thinly disguised facts assembled by the great crime writer James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) have been fictionalized to concentrate on one man instead of a whole gang of rogue cops, but Oren Moverman’s sucker punch direction and script (co-written by Mr. Ellroy) reek of authenticity. Read More
