Absolutely Fantastic

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

This film had an amazing start and then things went kinda downfall i don't agree with the 0% on Rotten Tomatoes but still it was kinda disappointing too much stupid things going on i never seen a whole police department in a film being so 'Dirty' i mean common they send a whole goddamn army to kill Justin Timberlake. Also the film has a great cast that doesn't seem to care in order to use them well like Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey who they just come and goes. Anyways it had it's moments as a film and for sure it doesn't deserve all this bad reviews but i understand why tho....it's a good film for what it is i give it a 7.

Pollack (Justin Timberlake) is a young ambitious reporter on the trails of corrupted cops, but he finds a more pervasive rot in the city. Morgan Freeman plays his editor who first fires him then mentors him. LL Cool J plays the conflicted cop, and Dylan McDermott plays the corrupted crazy cop. The cast also includes Kevin Spacey and John Heard. That's a great list of actors.This is Justin Timberlake's first big acting gig. He's basically playing himself, a young buck over his head against some of the biggest players around. So he fits the role perfectly. Morgan Freeman is the wise old man although I didn't need to see him do old man dancing. Dylan McDermott brings great intensity although he starts to overact around midpoint of the movie. And that's when it slowly unraveled. The ending is a mess.

I rented this picture from the local library before reading the website reviews, and I liked it. I don't understand all the venomous comments; this picture breaks no new ground and is a good action picture wherein people get beaten up, killed, and objects blow up. What were they expecting, Shakespeare? And someone mentioned the 'suspension of disbelief'... do they understand the term 'escapist entertainment'?The story has been done before. Organization of cops turns into a vigilante outfit of bad/crooked cops, and a newsman decides to become a crusader to uncover the group. He meets with a great deal of hostility and resistance, including "important people in high places". This is new?The picture gains immeasurable stature from Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey (as noted, sporting a very stylish wig) and has some good supporting performances from LL Cool J and, especially, Dylan McDermott, who has the role of the Psycho Cop (seems like someone always has to, and he did it very well). And I didn't think Justin Timberlake was as bad as advertised. And as I expected, things blew up, people got killed and beaten up and the movie ended just about the way I expected. That's the way action pictures go; as noted,I wasn't expecting Shakespeare.

I got to give it to one super scene in this movie. This is where LLcoolJ walks into the bar/restaurant to have a chat with the reporter. He goes about staring down everyone on his way, wow, he is FRAT and it should scare everyone out of their pants, phew. They must think he is the invincible Terminator back from nowhere.As soon as he sits down by a table and gives a stare at the people nearby they all scram, wow, how intimidating.I'm so scared of this guy that I want to laugh till I die.Of course there are several other pathetic scenes and plot holes which tops what I have mentioned above but I just could not resist writing about that one scene, so scary to even think of it. Did they ever preview this movie before releasing or what ? Probably they did and no one survived the preview and the print was already into circulation.