RAMPART

Finished this script by James Ellroy and Oren Moverman.

Wasn't impressed with it.  Yeah, it may show what it's really like to be a beat cop - it has the locations, it has the dialogue, it shows the grind - but is it entertaining?  That's what's important?  Would it make a great movie?  The answer is no.  TRAINING DAY had a compelling story with a villain that drove the plot through to its satisfying ending.  In RAMPART, we don't have a comparable villain.  This is why the plot sags and we start to lose interest one-third of the way through.

It's not enough to be authentic.  You've got to floor us.  You've got to mesmerize us.  This script clearly doesn't.  It's easy to see why real cops would applaud during this film.  The problem is, the rest of us are going to sit there bored.