Rampart

You are the most Beautiful Woman I’ve ever seen... In this bar.

Woody Harrelson- Everyone’s favourite vegan. Mine anyway. And Rampart is classic Woody territory; indie, quirky, brutal and achingly cool, it is truly an excellent film.

Scene

Woody Harrelson plays David Brown, an LAPD cop and classic (some would say cliché) anti-hero. He’s a drunk, a womaniser and he doesn’t play by the rules, but man does he get it done. He lives with his girlfriend and his ex (they’re sisters, don’t ask) and two kids (thankfully from the same woman), yet he still finds the time to sleep around. The film basically follows Rampart as he becomes embroiled in a PR battle against the LAPD after being caught on tape beating a guy up who had just crashed into his patrol car. 

Take

Firstly, right off the bat, I want to make it clear that to describe Rampart as a cliché cop film couldn’t be further from the truth. Rampart is an intelligent film, masterfully shot and with a razor-sharp script.

Harrelson’s performance is up there with Natural Born Killers, portraying the classic dichotomy of character, brutal and slightly twisted yet undoubtedly misunderstood and with a tenderness that has all but rotted to the core. David Brown is a man seemingly without conscience, love for his family is all he clings onto as the world around him (albeit via the microcosm of LA) falls to ruin. The storyline charts part of this decline and Woody plays the broken hero magnificently.

Of course we have seen this washed up drunk who is deep-down-adorable countless times before but Rampart seems to avoid being tiresome. Brown smokes more than the cast of Mad Men combined and drinks like a fish but he doesn’t turn to drink to solve his problems, and he is much more upbeat than, say, Bruce Willis’ character Hartigan from Sin City.

I’m surprised Bruce Willis wasn’t in Rampart to be honest, the supporting cast was excellent. Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Foster, Robert Wisdom (from the Wire!) and even that ginger chick from Sex and the City that made the warty one look attractive.

Director

Oren Moverman is relatively unheard of but he should be given a decent budget after Rampart, which he co-wrote as well.

In terms of direction the film excels. In parts shot like a ‘cop documentary’, in parts art house, it is anything but ordinary. Pompous as it sounds I particularly like the use of the colour red throughout the film, portraying lust, love and anger. Watch it, you’ll notice it. And I must mention an excellent scene in which Brown and one of his conquests are having a discussion whilst watching Flamenco, with the dialogue becoming heated as the dance reaches its climax: brilliant metaphor.

And... Cut.

It’s difficult to write a review for Rampart without sounding like a film student who has seen too many Stanley Kubrick films but it has that affect on you. It’s powerful, enthralling and enwraps you from the beginning.

Unfortunately my local cinema only shows Disney films and Rhianna covered in seamen so I didn’t get to see Rampart at the cinema. If you can go and watch it, do it, if you can’t then buy it. If you’re poor download it because you need to watch it. Unless you just want Walt Disney and seamen, in which case I can’t help you.