Rampart Review

Director: Oren Moveman

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Ben Foster

Running Time: 108 mins

Certification:15

Synopsis: Tough Cop Dave Brown is not your friendly neighbourhood bobby; he’s a world-weary ‘fascist’ who becomes embroiled in scandal after being caught on camera brutalising a criminal. RAMPART follows Dave as his life unravels amidst the chaos of his controversies, his dubious brand of law enforcement and a complicated home life.

Woody Harrelson is one of THN’s favourite actors; a man whose body of work and acting prowess is frequently downplayed or merely overlooked. Sure we all know the parts he’s played in CHEERS, NATURAL BORN KILLERS and more recently the brilliant ZOMBIELAND – but what about his show-stealing performances in the likes of WAG THE DOG, THE PEOPLE VERSUS LARRY FLINT and DEFENDOR? Seriously, the man is amazing and his performance in RAMPART is another tick on long list of successes.

RAMPART is a simple story of a complex character and is basically a study of a man losing direction and control of his life.  As a cop, Dave maintains a bull-headed and courageous conservatism that is admirable; despite some heavy-handed policing, his ethical code still ensures the right people pay for their crimes. He has an in-depth knowledge of legal process as a result of failed aspirations to become a lawyer, alluded to throughout the film. Harrelson’s Dave is aggressive and intelligent  – using his knowledge of the law to skilfully evade the consequences of his actions through evasive and loquacious debate.

His home life is no less controversial. Dave lives in a garage conversion in his ex-wife’s (Cynthia Nixon) house whilst living next door to his other ex-wife (Anne Heche) who just happen to be SISTERS, both of whom have daughters by him! Evidently he still sleeps with whichever ex is willing, as well as going out on the pull regularly. Although Dave’s character is initially shocking both at home and at work, writer/director Oren Moverman skilfully pacifies the more sinister elements of Harrelson’s character. In an early scene in which his youngest daughter asks whether she and her half-sister/first cousin are inbred?, Harrelson’s answer is filled with both humour and love. Despite his violent behaviour, womanising, drinking, chain-smoking, and general curmudgeon-ing , we like Dave, and his negative character traits come off as roguishly charming as opposed to disturbing.

No sooner do we decide that Dave is like your (mostly) harmless pervy, drunken uncle does the film switch on us. Dave is caught on camera brutalising a criminal and, in an attempt to create positive propaganda for himself, stages another crime that goes wrong. In the midst of being investigated, Dave’s ramshackle family decide he can’t live with them anymore. Dave is alone and begins a spectacular decent into a muddled haze of self-preservation/destruction; simultaneously exploiting drugs, and favours out of hotel clerks, pharmacists whilst coercing homeless people to corroborating his version of events. Harrelson’s performance of a desperate man is funny, disturbing and sickening (non-more-so than his drugged and drunken burrito scoffing). We begin to see Dave differently – gone is the roguish charm and we are basically left with a red-faced, sweaty, drunken criminal in a police uniform. Just as the question dawns in the audiences mind ‘Is Dave a good man?’, it is answered in an excruciatingly awkward exchange between him and his daughters in a hotel room.

What RAMPART really does is ask the question ‘What’s eating Dave Brown?’ And what becomes apparent is that Dave is a man clinging to the loose ties in his life. He’s a Vietnam vet, failed lawyer with two failed marriages and a string of indiscretions on his policing record. By the end of the film gone is the stony faced composure of a self-assured lawman and we are left with a broken failure. RAMPART’s only shortcoming is that it fails to finalise this idea with a definite and punctuated ending – instead the filmmakers have opted for a wandering open-endedness more suited to the nature of real-life as opposed to the expectations of a Hollywood audience’s need for closure. The film has an excellent visual style that uses hand-held digital cameras to add a reality of digital noise and naturalistic texture. Whilst appearing gritty and real the cinematography is also very contemplative with lingering and drifting close-ups and plays with focus and light to give the mind breathing space to consider the character’s actions.

Ultimately RAMPART is a great movie, tense, entertaining and a bit of a mystery as we try to figure out what makes Dave tick. There is already an Oscar-buzz around Harrelson’s performance, but THN thinks it’s unlikely to go his way – less so for his performance and more due to the films overall style. It’s lack of resolution feels more like indecision than a deliberate statement and ends the film without the dramatic punch it deserved and had felt like it was building towards throughout.  The film has brilliant ensemble cast all giving pitch-perfect performances that complement one another excellently and create a believable onscreen world of the politics behind the world of policing.Despite we feel an Oscar is unlikely this is still Harrelson’s movie and he does a bloody fine job blending his trademark brand of questionable behaviour and charisma with the paranoid downfall of a dubious character that is gripping and disturbing.

RAMPART is release 24th February