Line Of Duty

Gentlemen dinners, the time when men get to sit down and talk about male stuff and don´t worry about getting drunk and ( for some reason ) be comfortable beeing naked together. There is something special about gentlemen dinners, and we need them to help us lift up all the important isssues such as:

* What alcohol you should be buying ?
* When does the local strip bar close ?
* Who would you spend a night with, your beer bottles or Steve Guttenberg ?

But every time i have been to a gentlemen dinner, the same subject comes up everytime. You might think it is about relationships, or personal problems. But the truth is that real gentlemen want to talk about actor Aaron Eckhart. Why ? Because a lot of gentlemen see him as the perfect male, and that especially became clear after men in Sweden watched him in the sci fi action film World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles. It was here where Swedish men discovered the perfect man, and that was Aaron Eckhart as military Seargent Michael Nantz. If you ask men in Sweden they have watched more than 10 times on Netflix, the answer would be this film. Because no one can bring out the emotions in men, like Aaron Eckhart does in World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles. Last time we brought this up, one man at the gentlemen dinner started Crying ( i must mention he is originally from Finland ), because Aaron Eckhart means that much to him. Now that is male Power on the highest level. Aaron Eckhart have been in so many films over the years, it is easy to forget all the titles. But i remembered a film i did enjoy with him, released in 2006. And that film is known as The Black Dahlia, directed by legendary director Brian De Palma. The Black Dahlia is based on the true story of the mysterious murder of Elizabeth Short. I would not say this is one of the better films from De Palma, but Aaron Eckhart is actually good in this film. I noticed recently that he have made a new cop action film called Line Of Duty. Aaron Eckhart as a police officer, how can anyone say no to that ? Is this a great choice for fans of this genre, or should Eckhart have done a sequel to I, Frankenstein instead of this film ?

Officer Frank Penny ( Aaron Eckhart ) is a uniformed cop who walks his city beat with a resigned attitude and a heavy heart. His past has left him fairly disgraced in the department, so at this point he is just watching the days pass without any hopes or ambition. All of this changes when he finds himself chasing a suspect from a failed ranson pickup. The suspect is shot down by Frank in an Alley, and it turns out that this suspect had information on Police Chief Volk´s ( Giancarlo Esposito ) kidnapped daughter. Frank is stripped from his gun and badge, for not following orders. But this does not stop Frank from going after the person who kidnapped Volk´s daughter.

If you are looking for a very predictable action cop film, then look no further. Line Of Duty is a perfect match if you want something very easy to watch. This is the kind of film you can watch, where you don´t need to think anything. You get a pretty simple plot, that looks like a lot of cop films from the 90´s. And this is my problem with Line Of Duty, there is not much here to be happy about. The problem is not actor Aaron Eckhart, because he is one of the biggest reasons why you want to watch this film. Your recognize his acting style, and the way he usually do his characters. So it basically all comes down to what Line Of Duty does wrong, and bring us a cop film that you won´t remember. But there is one actor who actually bring us something to be happy about. And that is legendary actor Giancarlo Esposito ( who most of you remember from the classic criminal TV series Law & Order, and Breaking Bad of course ) as the character Volk. His performance is actually better than most actors in this film, and the scenes he is in gives this film a different approach. There are a few interesting actors in here as well, but since Line Of Duty feels uninspired , you don´t really care much about what will happen. Aaron as the police officer Frank Penny, is thankfully one detail that helps this film from falling apart. Some of the action scenes with Eckhart may not be anything special, but he manage to pull them off with his charm. Is there not anything more to be happy about this film ? Honestly no, because everything i have seen in this film has been done before. The social media broadcast ( supposed to be serious news reporters ) does not feel serious at all. If they were supposed to be a modern take on news broadcast on social media, then they missed the mark completely. Director Steven C. Miller ( who directed the great horror comedy Silent Night ), have a past of making action films, and he does manage to pull of a few good action scenes. But that does not help when there are way too many predictable scenes in this film. Line Of Duty is not a horrible film, but is way too forgettable to care about. If you want to see a really good cop film, go watch the classic Training Day on Netflix instead with Ethan Hawk and Denzel Washington. Now that´s how you make a really good cop film, that still works well after almost 20 years.

Rating: DD