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Narc (Widescreen Edition)

Narc (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A knockout, in your face motion picture
Review: I loved Narc. It starts out as (Jason Patric) chases a suspect and there's shots fired,a pregnant lady gets hit and then (Patric) finds out she loses her baby. It's a grabber of an opening and the film gets way too suspenseful and great. The actors are superb, especially (Ray Liotta, another powerhouse performance next to, Unlawful Entry, Turbulence and Identity). Liotta approaches Patric because his partner Mike gets killed and then they start to go looking for the guys. you get a lot of gritty images, some freaky characters. One of my favs of both leads. The ending is surely suspenseful with Liotta and Patric busting in on Busta Rhymes and his friend. I thought Busta Rhymes did a good job as well, he was emotional and so was when Liotta explains how Mike killed himself in front of him. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Liotta or Patric

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Panic in Detroit
Review: Filmed in Detroit and Toronto, this brilliant piece of work has some of the best acting ever captured on film. With verisimilitude and intricacy of plot, Narc fires on all cylinders: moral, emotional, and philosophical (epistemological and aesthetic). Yet I had never heard of it. Why? I would guess it has to do in part with its not being a Hollywood product. Narc did not receive oodles of money and its director and producers (although Tom Cruise co-produced after seeing how good the finished product was) did not make nice to all the people who must be made nice to to produce and distribute a film. Superficially, Narc is a genre film, a police thriller. And it also does not (again, superficially) obey the stereotypes of (what for want of a lack of a better term has come to be called) political correctness. For example, the Ray Liotta character (absolutely brilliantly rendered), a veteran undercover police offer, at one point decries to his superiors (one of whom is black) that they are all too happy to pin the murder of a police officer on a wimpy pusher (who also happens to have the deceased's badge) because it is politically palatable. So, too, in another scene (the film's funniest) a Latino without pants (his wife gave him VD), who has just used his last match to set his wife's hair on fire, requests a light to do a hit of crack. Busta Rhymes plays a bad guy-again, superficially. The whole problem with this movie, from the Hollywood standpoint, is that it fails to be sufficiently superficial. Considering all the money available to make movies, making a good movie in Hollywood is not that difficult. But making a work of art appears to be impossible. Narc is a work of art. Lucky to get a couple of stars, and threatened with financial extinction early in its production, Narc delves into depths of moral complexity unavailable to films that poll audiences to find out what they would most like. ("Entertain us," in the words of Kurt Cobain.) The business model for normal film making appears to be based on corporate (un)accountability: try to make something that sells but, if it doesn't, make sure no single person can be held personally responsible for its failure. This recipe leads to some above-average films, mild entertainment, and far too many cinematic atrocities (especially when you consider the money spent making them). But too many cooks generally spoil the pot. Narc doesn't have too many cooks. It simply cooks. I loved this film not only because it is a kind of French Connection for the 00's, but also because it shows that, after all is said and done, a little true art is worth more than a truckload of money and spectacle.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Of The Best Cop Films
Review: Narc is up there with Heat as one of the best cop films of all time. It's gritty, raw, dramatic, thrilling, etc.

Liotta's and Patric's performance are brilliant with great direction by Carnahan. The visual style he uses in this film brings the rawness and the realistic feel to the viewer.

This is definitely a must rental and a buy. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Guns and Bagels"
Review: What a perfect combination. Guns and bagels. Jason Patric is a narcotics cop thrown off the board for accidently shooting a pregnant woman. But years later, they want him back. This time he works with Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) to investigate the murder of Oak's ex-partner. This movie keeps you guessing. Ray Liotta is fantastic in this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ~Narc~
Review: Narc, starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric, opens with one of the most harrowing scenes ever put to film. I won't divulge what happens, but I found myself deeply disturbed and oddly moved by it. After that, the movie, while briskly paced, finds itself following the same good cop/bad cop routine that has peppered every police drama since Serpico. While the performances are very good, Narc never seems to come into its own. Ray Liotta, as always, is angry. Jason Patric (one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood) gives a textured and emotional edge to his character. The direction and cinematography are outstanding. The script is sharply written with natural dialogue and some truly brutal wordplay. Taken on these merits alone Narc is well worth a purchase if you enjoy a gritty story.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: this is a racist movie!!
Review: I find this movie offensive that it glamorize police brutality and racism...two white cops slap around black and hispanic criminals calling them "N***er" and "spic" doesn't really work for me. It's too close to reality of police brutality.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No Serpico
Review: This film was good--despite the hype--but not great and, sorry, not even close to "Serpico" or "French Connection" despite gritty cinimatography and a fine cast. Plot-wise, I'm wondering why the Ray Liota Character bothered to persue anyone else once his superior told him the "killer" was the first punk he shot, If in the end all he wanted to do was protect the wife and little girl of his "Slain" partner. (did I miss something?) This all leads me to my main beef and that is why is every film now adays reducable to that theme: survival of the middle class family unit. Heck, Serpico was too obsessed and self-involved to keep a girl friend let alone a family. Popeye Doyle never graduated from one-night stands. I think there's a trend here so prevelent in contemporary film that I feel like the powers that be are trying to minipulate us...Give me Seventies cop stuff any day.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: By-the-numbers, but expertly crafted
Review: In the wake of the success that "Training Day" reaped, I would have figured a film in a similar vein (albeit with a much better screenplay) would also rake in the dollars, but unfortunately this proved not to be the case.

In any event, both Ray Liotta and Jason Patric pull off suitably good performances. Patric has played this role before, in 1990's "Heat", so it's no surprise he plays so well. But Liotta, so often mired in extremely poor B-movies of late, is the real prize.

The hand-held filming is often jarring, but no more so than your average episode of NYPD Blue. "Narc" offers more dialogue than action, but it's still a solid piece of work. Well worth owning, and definitely worth renting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid Cop Drama
Review: Jason Patric (in his first film role in almost 4 years) plays a Detroit narcotics cop kicked off the force following a bust gone bad. Ray Liotta, in one of his best roles, is an unstable cop who's been investigating the murder. Patric and Liotta are forced to work together and form an uneasy alliance. NARC explores this case, as well as the relationships between Liotta and Patric as well as Patric's relationship to his wife (Krista Bridges) and infant son.

NARC is not anything new, and you'll likely figure out the plot twists pretty easily. However, it's well-done, and the acting is top notch. The director (Joe Carnahan) has done a good job capturing a raw quality of police work, making NARC much more believable than many recent police thrillers. As a result, the relatively low budget of the film (7.5 million) doesn't show.

EXTRAS: Extras include a good director's commentary. In addition, there are several behind-the-scences documentaries, including one with director William Friedkin ("French Connection") discussing the evolution of cop dramas.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great movie to remember
Review: This is a gritty production filmed by an independent company with a very low budget. Is a movie that cuts to the bone and is also very realistic. Hand held camera adds to the feeling of a documental. However, realism does not overshadow the human angle. As a viewer I cared deeply for all characters.

Acting was superb at all levels. Ray Liotta should have been an Oscar candidate.

Also, the cinematography has been done with extreme care.

All in all, if you like a movie that deals with actual cops life on the streets, this should be at the same level as "Training day" and "Reservoir Dogs." What a debut for a director!


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