Narc

Joe Carnahan was on the precipice of making a good film with this dark thriller. Unfortunately for Joe, he's maintained a balancing act on that precipice with nearly every movie he's made.

Gritty, dark crime thriller in the spirit of French Connection or more recently Training Day. It is a bit underwhelming, and seems more fitting as a TV series pilot, but nevertheless good cinematography, snappy editing and different twist of the story elevates this film above many similar films. I actually liked it more than considered classics I previously mentioned.

I feel like Carnahan kinda shanks the third act, and completely bottlenecks the film with massive reams of energy-sapping exposition. If he'd given the script a few more revisions he might have realised that the mystery could have been slowly revealed over the course of the film instead of shoving it all in the mouth of Busta Rhymes. The first two acts are beautiful and compelling, and then he explains everything, and you're not really left with much to think about.

It's a really underrated, dark, frantic movie that features a few really great performances. I would seriously recommend it.

Absolutely stunning debut from Joe Carnahan. Well written with superb direction, visual style and soundtrack. Ray Liotta is absolutely memorizing and I honestly believe this is his best performance to date. Amazing film.

The gritty/gloomy atmosphere is great, and the actors are really good. I couldn't get too much into the story sadly, and expected most of the plot twists. Decent movie, good cinematography.

Narc is a no-nonsense cop drama about a couple of bad police officers who are very good at their jobs. It's stylistic, it's tightly plotted, it has a great understanding of the consequences of taking a high-pressure job, and it works as a drama about these two people and their case -- even more so than it does as a thriller about solving exactly what happened to the deceased undercover cop. This is a good movie and one that I think is worth checking out.

Not for the faint of heart...

Jittery camera-work and jagged editing go some way to adding to the atmosphere of corrosive corruption in Patric and Liotta’s world, but there comes a point when the style overwhelms the story and begins to hamper it, with the film becoming relentlessly ugly and unpleasant, leading to a final act which awkwardly and laboriously tries to tidy up its knotty tale. Worth watching for Liotta, who is on fire as the brutal hot-head; Patric struggles to make a mark with the more passive, reactive role.

Decent action-thriller, and it was nice to see Jason Patric again(did he do anything between this one and Speed2?).

Crushing performance by Jason Patric. Another grim depiction of Detroit . . .

I didn't think the story was all that amazing, but I did enjoy both Patric and Liotta's performances.

A gritty and brutal cop movie. Heads and shoulders above the rest of it's kind.

The otherwise ordinary police tale feels impressively fresh and original in Carnahan's inventive direction. A gritty cop thriller has seldom been this sensual.

Nice performances yet ordinary story.

#00s(e)#, reviews, story, R Liotta.

No holds barred crime thriller that plays off its characters with great effect. Keeps you guessing and Carnahan did a solid job of making you change your emotions towards everyone entangled in the story.

One mean motion picture. A gritty cop drama.

Better than it should be.

Fantastic raw and gritty cop drama. Excellent acting with a story that will hook you in.

Fast paced 'conspiracy theory' crime movie with some pretty amazing action scenes! Patric (why is he not in more awesome movies??) and Liotta were awesome!

Succeeds mostly through a generous application of grit.

Gripping, dark and well thought out, with impressive performances by Patric and Liotta. Just don't expect an action thriller.

For the most part, I thought this was pretty unremarkable. The first half, full of ambiguous character development, is boring. The second-half is a bit more intense, but the end feels like sort of a cop-out.

Masterfully directed, very well written and acted out movie. Stands the test of time and has one the greatest movie openings of all time.

Dumb, predictable, boring.

A nasty cop thriller. Twist after twist till it's grueling, outrageous, infuriatingly good ending. Only flaw, we've all seen this before. Joe Carnahan is a real talent.

Admittedly, I'm very poor at guessing these plot twist whodunit type movies but this one it was incredibly obvious what was going on. Feels like another one of the many Training Day knockoffs but doesn't have that one great scene to really elevate it to another level. Also, these movies and the stupid pointless love subplots are getting so old. What was the point of Jason Patric's wife in this? She's leaving you? WHO CARES. No one plays angry like Ray Liotta. Shame he got fat

Other then the good performances from the two leads this is a by the numbers police procedural that does nothing original or all that exciting.

"Carnahan works with a rough-hewn classicism that recalls the tenacity and resilience of Hollywood in its glory days." - Chuck Rudolph

Excellent.

75.750

This is very hard core cup movie. Its set in Detroit but without Axel Foley and his shenanigans. Jason Patric and Ray Liotta performing very well and whole movie is intriguing. Only mishit is Nick Tellis's past. Cop can be dedicated and caring even without tragic past.

It starts out completely abysmal and depressing, but as it develops it becomes more...well, abysmal and depressing. But if you can manage to follow the story amid the shaky camera and constant screaming, the last half hour serves as a very strong conclusion.

One of my absolute favourite cop movies. Its so dark, hard to the bone and gritty as it can be. Extremely underrated on IMDB. While Patrick perform fantastic, Liotta plays his best role of his career. A must see! (dont bring your girlfriend to this one)

Feels more like a modern elegy - noir-like in tone - than a tough, badass cop-thriller. We're talking relativism, grave images and grave characters. I've seen it five times or something now, and it doesn't lose its power.

for Tommy Vercetti

A cop movie filled with twists and nobody plays by the rules.

Jason Patric and Ray Liotta are at the top of their games. Their portrayals of two worn out police officers were intense. This film was a nasty look into the world of undercover narcotics officers. None of these people managed to keep their hands clean over the years. Easily one of the best developed films, with powerful and moving dialogue I have watched recently. No glorification of the drug underworld and what these guys do, they were human and their flaws were on display. A captivating film.

A modern day 'French Connection', and well though out police drama that is as gritty and near to the bone as 'The French Connection' was back in the 70's. Ray Liotta is on top form as the passonate, morally dubious Henry Oak; a cops cop though a bit of a liability, while Jason Patric perfectly balances Liotta's renegade dectitive with his haunted and suspended narcotics officer.

You see what happens when you try Hollywood/Liotta ? Not perfect by any means but just superior to about 80% of the time-waster balls that gets pushed out these days. I amend may the score (and this review) when I am in a better mood about shitty buck chasing films, but for the moment this'll do.

I like the grimy feel and the pre-titles sequence is intense as hell, but the movie slowly unwinds into another twist and turn corrupt-cop fest. Nothing terrible, but nothing particularly engaging either.

Strong drama/thriller with great performances

A very over-rated film, I gave it two watches and agree that Liotta and Patric do a great acting job with a very imbalanced story. If they spent 15 more minutes developing the story instead of focusing on the intro and family life so much, or just stretched the length, the movie would have more potential.

With the tone of similar film subjects of the 1970s, Joe Carnahan's acclaimed and forgotten early 00s film holds up as well as those classics. I am not in love with the desaturated and shaky cam aesthetics that others seem to enjoy, but the meat of film if in the two great performances by Patric and Liotta. They do a phenomenal job at portraying completely broken men in this dour story.