Gritty police drama from James Ellroyโ€ฆ

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Directed by Oren Moverman

Starring Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Sigourney Weaver

Set against the Rampart Division scandal that rocked the LAPD in the late โ€˜90s โ€“ the rampant corruption and brutality that similarly inspired The Shield โ€“ James Ellroyโ€™s story makes a hazier, less pulpy companion to his underrated Dark Blue.

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Woody Harrelson plays Dave โ€œDate Rapeโ€ Brown, a defiantly, conspicuously old school cop with a vigilante philosophy, nicotine-and-pills diet, and deeply messed-up private life. Pressure mounts when his latest bout of summary street justice makes headlines. The Department wants him out; Dave suspects heโ€™s been set-up as scapegoat.

Another chapter of LA Confidential, weโ€™re in familiar territory, yet despite a superb cast Rampart slips increasingly out of focus and coherence. Still Harrelson, a sly, wired and mad dinosaur, cuts through it like a knife. His second hook-up with director Oren Moverman following 2009โ€™s The Messenger, this incredible performance leaves you wondering why so few filmmakers thought to put him at the centre of a movie for so long.

Damien Love