Copland

Copland: by The Buzzroom

Rating: 3 Stars

CAST

Directed By James Mangold

Copland is kinda sad in the sense that while I had high expectations for this film, it was those very high expectations that led to its demise. What I mean in laymen terms is it didn't live up to the hype. Now to say that Copland is a rather entertaining, well-written and acted film would be a lie and doing a disservice to the film. Stallone, in this vaunted performance of his, does a fairly good job, nothing that would win an Oscar (something that would totally vindicate Stallone after acting in the main-stream testosterone farces he has recently been involved in) but he does give sympathy to his character in a way that would make good ol' Rocky proud.

This film is definitely an ensemble film because good performance abound in the form of Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro, while other surprising good turns are made by Harvey Keitel and Robert Patrick. De Niro, it seems, even sorta makes fun of his "You talkin' to me?" attitude by the classic, yet almost strained, mannerisms that we've all come to know and love about De Niro, especially the scene where he does the "I offered to make you a cop and you blew it!!" (Classic De Niro) However, for all the superb casting and high expectations for this film to be critically loved, it turns out to be somewhat stale in its story. Basically, Freddy, through all his hidden internalized pain, discovers that while he has never been truly considered a cop by anyone but himself he transforms from the broken-nosed goofy unwitting accomplice in the intricate scame that the cops of his "copland" town have made into a man who epitomizes what any man or woman who places a badge on them should be. Its basically a coming out party for Freddy, a loser in the eyes of others, ridden with angst and regrets, going and redeeming himself from the dregs of his own shortcomings in life. The movie though just seems to plod along and you know what's going to happen, which is why you wonder when any twists or new spins on a classic story are going to happen. They just do not. Copland is steeped in the realm of moral ambiguity (are the good guys bad, bad guys good?) yet its ending is too tidy. That is why you wonder if going in you expected an Academy Award winner but instead were dealt with a decent cop drama that shows a man's journey to ultimately find his place in the world.

Official Copland Website: http://www.miramax.com/movies/copland_.html

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