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Review by Harvey Karten
3 stars out of 4
I had a friend who, unlike the rest of our gang, did not become a
teacher or an accountant or a dentist or doctor. He had his heart
set on wearing the blue for New York's finest. When he joined the
force, his fianc‚ left him, as she had threatened to do. Police
work is stressful not only for the officers but for their families,
forcing spouses to remain home alone or with their children during
much of the night hours and who worry each day whether their
husbands or wives would even survive to the next day. Director
Joe Carnahan's "Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane" is, like his
present work, an unconventional, low-budget crime story, but this
time Carnahan enjoys a stellar cast headed by Jason Patric as
Nick Tellis, an undercover narcotics officer, and Ray Liotta (who
gained thirty pounds for the role to exude both physical and
emotional bulk), who performs in the role of Tellis's partner, Henry
Oak. Just minutes into the movie, you'll probably think, "Where
have I seen Jason Patric before?" Patric had appeared in Lili Fini
Zanuck's similar opus, "Rush," about a young woman recruited to
be an undercover narc in the 1970s joining a man who's too strung
out to be effective.
While "Narc' is a character study even more than it is a crime
thriller peppered with violence, Moscow-born photographer Alex
Nepomniaschy ("The End of Innocence") captures the tension of
police work early on with a hand-held camera, using a blue filter to
capture Tellis chasing a suspected drug dealer, a stray bullet from
his gun hitting a pregnant woman. Suspended from the Detroit
force for eighteen months, he is given a chance by his boss (Chi
McBride) to have the event stricken from the record if he would
bring in the person or persons who murdered an undercover narc,
presumably because the latter had been found out by the
pushers. He is teamed up with Henry Oak, who was the partner
of the murdered cop and who is hell-bent on getting revenge.
"Narc" is not only a powerful crime story but an effective
psychological thriller that includes a "Rashomon" theme. Just
how did the unfortunate detective die? Was he shot by the
dealers when found out? That appears to be the obvious answer,
but things are seldom what they seem. Carnahan treats us to a
bevy of Aqua-Velva blue flashbacks, each suggesting the
circumstances that surrounded the cop's death, revealing the
unusual truth at the movie's conclusion. In addition, we eavesdrop
on Tellis's family life, learning that his wife has become a shrew
because Tellis is around when he should be home helping her to
bathe and take care of their small child and is disgusted that her
man chose to re-enter the Detroit force and take on the dangerous
job that led to his suspension. For his part, we find out that Oak
has his own reasons for obsessing, his relationship with the dead
man's widow an indication of his desire for closure. The movie
was inspired by a documentary, "The Thin Blue Line," about the
actual slaying of a Dallas police officer in 1976, then made into a
short film by Carnahan called "Gun Point."
While Liotta is a powerhouse, chewing up the scenery with his
emotionalism, Patric's more intellectual performance is the key to
the film's success. The thirty-six year old actor, a grandson of
Jackie Gleason, creates a complex character, buffeted at home
by his nagging wife and on the job by his high-strung partner, yet
he is able to convey his love for the only job for which he feels
suited. Though he performed as ably in the similar "Rush" as he
does in the current drama, he has shown depth in quite different
roles, particularly as a self-styled stud in Neil LaBute's drama of
dysfunctional couples, "Your Friends and Neighbors." The team
of Liotta and Patric coupled with Carnahan's sharp script make
"Narc" a superior cop movie.
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
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