Kevin Bacon is a badass and he gets to show off that badassness in Cop Car, a film that is simple in plot, but deep in satisfaction. I’ve seen it touted as a horror film, but the truth is, it’s more of a thriller, with a few bits and pieces of dark humor thrown in for good measure. The DVD (also on Blu-ray) that was released by Anchor Bay is light on features, however the gratifying feeling of watching a great film makes up for any grievances towards the disc. Read on to see if you agree…
PRODUCT INFORMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 88 min
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1
RESOLUTION: 480i
AUDIO: Dolby Digital 5.1
SUBTITLES: English SDH, Spanish and French
REGION: 1
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 2015
RELEASE DATE: Oct 6, 2015
PLOT SUMMARY
Two typical ten-year-old boys stumble across an abandoned police cruiser and summon the nerve to take it for a spin. What starts up as a joyride through empty fields becomes more dangerous as they explore the contents and limits of the car, but things only get worse when the small town sheriff goes looking for his missing vehicle. The pair find themselves in the centre of a deadly game of cat and mouse they don’t understand and the only way out is to go as fast as their cop car can take them.
MOVIE
As the lovely plot summary shows above, the story is straight forward, but it’s the fantastic acting from Kevin Bacon that produces excellence. I’ve always been a fan of Kevin Bacon’s acting, yes, even the much maligned Hollow Man, is still a movie I enjoy checking out once and awhile. In Cop Car, Mr. Bacon produces a performance that is both humorous and scary all at once. As I so casually mentioned before, the film has bits and pieces of dark humor sprinkled throughout, even when carnage and death is present on screen.
Normally I’m put off by a movie that has kids as their lead actors. However, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford put in a stellar performance that brought me back to my dumb days of being a kid. A vast majority of everything they do is both terrifying and innocent; be it them taking a cop car on a joy ride or playing with guns. I lost count numerous times of me flinching at them handling rifles in such an unsafe way. Scary, frightening real stuff.
The film may feel slow, as it’s a burn that takes its time to catch into a raging fire. Not at lot of action is present throughout the 88-minute run time, but the ending produces a fantastic tense feeling that builds and builds, much like an unattended pot of boiling water. The final minutes may disappoint a few people, as it leaves threads dangling, but I was satisfied with the results and felt it concluded things fittingly.
DVD
Anchor Bay has released Cop Car in two separate formats, Blu-ray and DVD. I only received the DVD for review, so I can’t form a valid opinion on the quality of the Blu-ray, but judging by the DVD, which is perfectly acceptable, I assume the Blu-ray is looking fantastic. In addition to clear video, the disc also has Dolby Digital 5.1 as the audio option, with no issues having being discovered. Sadly, the only special feature is a measly 3 minute Making of, that felt more like fluff than anything substantial.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
- Their First and Last Ride: The Making of Cop Car
VERDICT
Cop Car is much like the story it tells, it’s starts off slow, but once it gets moving, your excitement rises and everything is a blast until the exhilarating ending. I came out being a fan of this flick and I feel any self appointed film buff will feel the same way. Be sure to pick up either the DVD or Blu-ray from Anchor Bay Canada today.