The first few minutes of director Oren Moverman's mature character study, "Rampart," is a jump-cut collage of police officer Dave Brown's taut face scanning Los Angeles from his patrol car (reminiscent of Travis Bickle in Scorsese's "Taxi Driver"). This cop is intense, alert, and readily available for altercations with undesirables. The man lives for a good bloody street fight. He's unrelenting and driven by the possibilities of his vocation.
Brown (a rock solid Woody Harrelson) is a veteran officer working in the Rampart precinct of the Los Angeles Police Department circa 1999. He makes no apologies for his sketchy past (which includes killing an "alleged" date rapist) and he relishes his authority with a near delirium. His occasional diversions from work include abusing his family (through severe neglect and misunderstanding), bystanders/criminals (brute unchecked force), alcohol (after work and during), and the opposite sex (it is hinted that Brown's sexual exploits are as out of control as his wrath).
But he is first and foremost a "soldier" of the force, a man who does as he pleases, taking his job to its horrific outer limits. The people that inhabit his world must either watch and support him- or become direct combatants regarded with smug indifference. The mental pressures of his chosen profession are spun back at his family in the form of fierce detachment. His youngest daughter seems to understand (she's too young to know what her father is) and his oldest daughter is as angry and rebellious as her father. This relationship is the pulse of the movie and Brown is obviously wary of his oldest daughter (as he sees himself in her and vice versa). Their communication plays like opposite sides of the same disenchanted coin--wrestling and antagonizing each other endlessly.
The tide turns a tad when a man smashes into Brown's patrol car. He leaps from his battered auto and proceeds to beat the negligent driver to death (the driver happens to be black). This incident brings cries of racism and brutality from the community and his peers. Brown's past and future are immediately brought into question by many incredulous investigative bodies (Sigourney Weaver, looking a bit unenthused by her role, and Ice Cube, the dullest performance in an otherwise well-acted film).
Others that haunt the edges of Brown's life include a go-to friend of his deceased father's (a terrific Ned Beatty), a homeless sage who acts as a societal mirror to Brown's disillusionment (a very good Ben Foster), and a career-minded defense attorney with an eye for Brown's controversial trappings (the always interesting Robin Wright). The trajectory of these relationships must be imbued with utter chaos- like everything Brown deems worthy of attention. He warps anything he touches with his constant inability to locate a healthy release of his all encompassing angst.
Moverman has made an intelligent examination of society's institutional loopholes and the effects it has on the employees. Moverman shared script credit with novelist James Ellroy. The resulting movie is well paced, cunning, distracted at times, and unconscious of any pressing morality, in other words, a mirage of its protagonist. Moverman's first film with Harrelson was his directing debut, "The Messenger" (2009). It's apparent that the director and his leading man work well together when exploring blokes with difficult jobs ("The Messenger" dealt with the Casualty Notification Team of the U.S. Army).
Harrelson articulates his character with his face in a permanent state of fluctuating grimaces. His devilish behavior crackling with the abandon of a charming boy thumbing his nose at the world (a sort of LOOK AT WHAT I'M GETTING AWAY WITH, SUCKERS!). The suspect institution that imprisons Brown (L.A.P.D.) is forced to choke on the imperfections it has imposed on its dutiful soldier. He's a victim of his perverted nerves.
Effortlessly moving from charismatic to loathsome, Harrelson illuminates the policeman's ego and lets it fizzle out in defeat (in one scene after a drunken evening at the clubs- he voraciously devours greasy fast food like a pig tearing through slop). It's Harrelson's barely hinged madness and unabashed despair that keeps the film genuine and hard to turn away from. We just cannot tell what will become of this guy- and no matter how badly he behaves- we can't help wondering what made him this way- and why?
DIRECTOR: Oren Moverman SCREENWRITERS: James Ellroy, Oren Moverman CAST: Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, Robin Wright, Anne Heche RUN TIME: 108 minutes MPAA RATING: R
