Cop Car Blu-ray Review

Director: Jon Watts

Starring: Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 88 minutes

Cop Car is, at the very least, an intriguing progression in an already interesting career path for director, Jon Watts. What is a continued deviation from his comedic roots, Watts utilises his own personal experiences as a catalyst for this gritty adventure of a thriller. It features corrupt antagonist, Kevin Bacon, who plays a manipulative, intelligent police sheriff who likes to go above and beyond when it comes to the law.

We follow two prospective juvenile delinquents, though more likely just two very adventurous children, Harrison (Hays Wellford) and Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) as they run away from the safety of their homes and into a whole lot of gripping, eerie trouble. Though Cop Car is intrinsically simple in its plot (not that this is a bad thing, of course), it does develop into a complex narrative full of shattered innocence and traumatic disillusionment as our protagonists dance on the floor of moral ambiguity. As such, this will connect with some of film’s young adult viewership as the film exudes a sense of the 90s ethos, in which adventuring and exploring were very much the priority at the protagonists’ age.

Despite Watts’ best efforts to woo us in terms of cinematography with beautiful shots of wheat-fields and desert-scapes – which earn him points – what makes itself certain is the that there is no such place as home in this film. Perhaps this is intentional from Watts, the kids after all are refugees within their own family when they decide to run away, choosing to abandon whatever ideas they had of ‘home.’ This doesn’t deny the fact that none of the characters really feel as if they belong, almost as if they were plucked from an initially good idea that Watts had dreamt and inserted into an unlikely, but somehow still relevant and engaging story.

The only real qualm present is that prior to letting a strange man out of the ‘trunk,’ (or for any Brits, ‘boot’) the boys have no real reason to suspect that Bacon’s sheriff is anything other than a respectful law enforcer. Why, then, do we see our protagonists trust a bloodied stranger in a police vehicle’s trunk enough to set him free? Even with his deranged promises of adult pleasures, he isn’t particularly convincing in his appeal to their better nature. Perhaps the boys were simply drunk on their own power, those shotgun-totting rascals!

But with all said and done, Cop Car is a uniquely constructed piece of cinema. Simple in storytelling, complex in message, and compelling in its execution. It certainly is a slow-burner, in which Watts attempts to seduce us with nostalgia as he urges us to relive moments of – potentially even our own – childhood. However, due to its slow pace, it’s likely that most action lovers and fans of fast moving parts will undoubtedly condemn the film to be too ‘boring’ or ‘mediocre’ for its lack of early presence.

For a considerably small-budgeted production, it’s truly worth noting that Cop Car most importantly evokes style and substance, and its attention to detail is particularly impressive as we charter these unfamiliar territories with Harrison and Travis. The balance was just right between ‘cop’ and ‘car’ as so not to undermine the performances of Wellford and Freedson-Jackson and their value as characters, and ultimately, what we have is Bacon taking the atypical Hollywood film of today, tying it up and throwing it in his boot before driving it out to the desert.

Watts has created something humble, entirely self-sufficient and at times, something with a wonderful grasp of suspense. Entirely worth a watch, but not for every crowd.

Cop Car is released on Blu-ray and DVD from Monday 19th October 2015.