Review:
"Cop Car"
Release Date: Aug. 7, 2015
Rating: R Running Time: 88 minutes Kids will be kids, especially when they seize the opportunity to act like a grown up. With Cop Car, director Jon Watts and writer Christopher Ford allow us to see through the eyes of two kids who do what most of us only dreamed of doing when we were their age: take a fast car on a joyride. Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) do just this when they find an unattended police vehicle that belongs to Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon). Trapped in the trunk of the car: a man (Shea Wiggins) whom Sheriff Kretzer plans to execute. It doesn’t matter why Sheriff Kretzer wants to kill this man, and that works to Cop Car’s advantage. We’re as in the dark as Travis and Hays. They don’t know whom to trust because they don’t know the good guy from the bad guy—if there even is a good guy. They’re caught in the middle of a bloody mess. As much as Travis and Harrison like to think they are wiser than their age, Cop Car constantly reminds them that they are just kids who remain at the mercy of an adult’s every whim—and that not every adult necessarily has a child’s best interests at heart. Watts finds in Freedson-Jackson and Wellford’s an infectious youthful exuberance that captures the thrill of doing something so bad and so daring that the consequences don’t matter. The world is their playground—until the fun comes to an end and these kids are shocked back into being the kids they are. When this happens, Travis and Harrison don’t turn into the resourceful young protagonists of Home Alone or Spy Kids. It’s one thing to pick up a gun and point it at an adult; it’s another to pull the trigger. When the situation turns deadly, Watts keeps Freedson-Jackson and Wellford honest to their age, mentally and physically. Bacon brings jitteriness to a sheriff used to being control while Wiggins summons the appropriate amount of menace to intimidate the kids into doing what he wants them to do without scaring them senseless. Watts reveals with Cop Car that he knows how to get into a kid’s head, which should serve him well when he directs his next film, the 2017 Spider-Man reboot. Robert Sims Aired: Aug. 6, 2015 Web site: https://www.facebook.com/copcarmovie |
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