Keanu Reeves' bad-boy cop Tom Ludlow may not play by the rules, but the film sure does.
Comment
10/18/08
Rate this Movie 
Street Kings (2008)
29
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:8
Rotten:20
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: Street Kings contains formulaic violence but no shred of intelligence.
Rated: R [See Full Rating]
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:2008
Box Office: $26,351,341
Synopsis: In STREET KINGS, a police thriller directed by David Ayer, Keanu Reeves plays Tom Ludlow, a veteran LAPD Vice Detective. Ludlow sets out on a quest to discover the killers of his former partner,... [More]
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Forest Whitaker
Director: David Ayer
Reviews for Street Kings
Top CriticIt’s really kind of a dirty scummy piece of work.
04/14/08
Top CriticAnother 'roid-raging dirty cop drama from David Ayer.
04/11/08
Top Critic[James Ellroy] writes Calvinist screeds against sin; filmmakers turn them into shoot-em-up thrillers.
04/11/08
Top CriticStreet Kings wastes a moderately intriguing premise by filling it with laughably clichéd dialogue, one-dimensional characters and implausible turns of events.
04/11/08
Top CriticThe movie belongs to Reeves, who at 43 is finally starting to look like an adult, with greater heft all round. He does Clint proud.
04/11/08
Top CriticLike director David Ayer's previous movies (he wrote Training Day), Street Kings is about the joy of badass coppery.
04/11/08
Top CriticAfter its clichéd first scene Street Kings becomes an enjoyably tough, blood-splattered action drama that revolves around the one good cop at its center.
04/11/08
Top CriticStreet Kings wobbles increasingly as it runs along, beginning well, growing so-so and culminating in a preposterous here's-what-it-all-means confession by the main villain.
04/11/08
Top CriticAn anemic attempt to evoke the big, shiny action pictures of the late '80s and early '90s, the heyday of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, when Timothy Dalton was 007 and Clint Eastwood had fewer wrinkles and bigger hair.
04/11/08
Top CriticIf you've seen Training Day, you've seen Street Kings done better.
04/11/08
Top CriticStreet Kings has hints of Training Day and the subtle aroma of L.A. Confidential, two movies concerned with the moral ambiguity and compromised honor of L.A.'s finest.
04/11/08
Top CriticStreet Kings is the cinematic equivalent of solid crime-genre fiction. It keeps the visual pages turning for a couple hours and navigates the dark corners of corruption and dishonor among men.
04/11/08
Top Critic[Director] Ayer appears to like the thrill of violence more than its philosophical underpinnings, so the movie is caught between the silly and the profound.
04/11/08
Top CriticThere's a lot to appreciate in Street Kings, a tight, propulsive action thriller, but there's one thing to marvel at, and that's James Ellroy's command of story.
04/11/08
Top CriticThat Ellroy delivers a crude, undistinguished script here is a pity.
04/10/08
Top CriticStreet Kings is an absurd if accidentally entertaining potboiler, based on a story by James Ellroy.
04/10/08
Top CriticMuch of the casting is dead-on, from Cedric the Entertainer as a street dealer to Jay Mohr as a slimy cop and Chris Evans as an earnest rookie who saddles up with Reeves' Ludlow for an ill-fated ride.
04/10/08
Top CriticDon’t get me wrong. Street Kings clips along with brutal efficiency, but the plot that sets up Tom for a frame-up is, in critic parlance, a strain on credulity.
04/10/08
Top CriticWe see the big picture way before the characters do, and that pushes us right out of the movie and back into our seats -- the last place we want to be.
04/10/08
Top CriticLatest News for Street Kings
August 16, 2008:
Another wooden performance from Keanu Reeves in high-impact splatter flick. 
More...
August 08, 2008:
While military man turned director Ayer implicates our culture steeped in violence and the damaging effects of trained killing, whether by police or in war, he's assembled such a deplorable LAPD rogues gallery, it's hard to tell which one is the worst.
More...
April 23, 2008:
UK Box Office Breakdown: Craig's Fool Has Disasterous Opening
Daniel Craig's new film - Flashbacks of a Fool - suffers a disastrous opening weekend, coming in at only 11th in the charts. Fool's Gold and Happy Go Lucky are the big successes More...
April 17, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chan & Li Face Off Against Sarah Marshall
After four straight weeks of the box office falling significantly behind last year's pace, the marketplace is finally set to post a win thanks to a trio of new releases... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Animated Oscar?
Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.
Scenic Routes
The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds