Copshop

Starring: Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Louder, Toby Huss , Ryan O'Nan

Director: Joe Carnahan

As con man Teddy Murretto (Grillo) drives his stolen, bullet-riddled cop car across the desert, he realizes that he needs a plan and fast. After sucker punching rookie police officer Valerie Young (Louder) to land himself in jail, he feels like he has escaped scot-free. Unfortunately for Teddy, the man on his trail, hitman Bob Viddick (Butler), has also gotten himself locked up in a separate cell. As both men try to figure out a solution to their respective situations, a wrench is thrown in when psychopathic hitman Anthony Lamb (Huss) arrives to try to complete the hit on Teddy as well. Valerie finds herself caught in the crosshairs after surviving Lamb's attack on the station and realizes the only way out of this situation is to trust the criminals.

This is a very old school type movie that feels like it could have easily found a home in the 70's or 80's. For a large part of its runtime, it reminded me of Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, where the cops have to trust the criminals in order to escape their situation.

I've always enjoyed the work of director Joe Carnahan, who burst onto the scene with the gritty indie Narc and went on to direct some classics like Smokin' Aces and The Grey. He is very content to tell the story his way and isn't afraid of taking his plots to unique places. This is very much the case here and he has a very game cast at his disposal.

The work of the three leads, especially relative newcomer Alexis Louder, is excellent. Anyone who sees this can't deny that Louder, who had bit parts in HBO's Watchmen series as well as Amazon's The Tomorrow War, is the breakout of the film and should have casting agents knocking down her door for roles. Her cowboy obsessed rookie police officer is much more suited for the action than many expect and she kicks butt in all the action scenes. Butler and Grillo turn in solid work, with Butler really sinking his teeth into the role. He needs to do more things like this and skip out on movies like Geostorm. Kudos to character actor Huss as well for his scene stealing hitman. Huss takes the definition of psychopath and runs with it.

While the film is good, it does take some time to get going, with things not really kicking into gear until Lamb shows up. From then on it's wall to wall action and there is some good suspense to be had, trying to figure out who will survive. One aspect I liked was that when it came to it, no one really betrayed their character. The fact that it was shot during the pandemic is also evident, as there are a limited number of characters and it mostly takes place in one location. None of that really matters though, because in the end these aspects serve the story that Carnahan wants to tell.

While I don't see this appealing to mass audiences, those looking for a solid throwback action thrill ride will be entertained.

Grade: B+