Reptile

There are a ton of cop thrillers out there to enjoy, no matter if we are talking about murder mysteries, criminal investigations or how it is being a police officer in general in society. There are a number of films i can easily mention as some of my favourites but you should definetely see the 1971 classic Dirty Harry with Clint Eastwood. Russel Crowe is really good in the 2007 gangster / cop thriller American Gangster from legendary director Ridley Scott. Of couse i have to mention the serial killer thriller Seven with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman because this is one of those films that you simply have to see. But let´s talk about one film specifically that i can watch over and over again, and never get tired of in the cop thriller genre. And that is the 2001 film known as Training Day from director Antoine Fuqua. This is one of those cop films that does not only show how corruption could look like in real life, but the film does a really good job capturing the mentality of police officers and how difficult their job is. How do you say no to bribes? How can you turn down gifts or even women offered to you, as long as you keep your mouth shut? Training Day circles around two main characters known as L.A.P.D Detective Alonzo Harris ( Denzel Washington ) who is assigned to train rookie Jake Hoyt ( Ethan Hawk ) over a 24-hour period. At first Jake is excited to learn the job, but once he sees how Alonzo works out on the streets he begin to question if he really should work as a detective. Training Day manage to capture the perfect tone between cop mentality and criminals mentality, and also give a very realistic view on the rough streets where laws have no meaning. Denzel Washington as Alonzo is absolutely brilliant in this role and this is without a doubt my favourite film with Denzel for sure. Ethan Hawk delivers a really strong performance as well as Jake and their screen chemistry is really powerful. You simply have to see Training Day if you have not seen this film. Speaking about films about cops, i recently sat down to watch a new police thriller called Reptile on Netflix. I did hear some positive reviews about this film so i was curious to see if this would be anything interesting. Is Reptile the best cop thriller in many years, or is this another predicatble cop film we have seen so many times before ?

Will Grady ( Justin Timberlake ) finds his girlfriend Summer Elswick ( Matilda Lutz ) brutally murdered in a rural Maine house that they had been showing for sale as realtors. When questioned by the police detectives assigned to the case, Tom Nicols ( Benicio Del Toro) and his partner Dan Cleary ( Ato Essandoh ), Will reveals that he was planning on marrying Summer but could not because she was technically still married to Sam Gilford ( Karl Glusman ). He is released. As the detectives tries to find out the truth, Tom is about to discover some details that may not only affect his career but his private life as well.

We might as well be honest and say Reptile doesn´t offer anything new to the table. This is a cop thriller that reminds me of many other similar films in this category, but the one thing that really stands out with this specific film is how good the cast of this film is. And let me be clear by saying this, actor Benicio Del Toro does one of his best performances in several years as the character Detective Tom Nichols. This might actually be one of the best acting performances i have seen this year of 2023. Benicio manage to capture so many emotions with his acting ability in this character. The way he uses his body language and especially his facial expressions doesn´t need any words. Just by looking at him you can sense what he is feeling. To be able to act that good you have to be able to make a powerful impact on the audience. Of course that also makes it difficult to the rest of the cast to be anywhere near as good as Benicio´s performance but i have to say most of the actors does a great job. We have to talk about Clueless actor Alicia Silverstone. Now, i have not always been a fan of her since there are moments in her career where she picked pretty weak films. Thankfully here in Reptile she proves her great acting abilities as Tom´s wife Judy. I think it´s great she proves once again that she really does have Hollywood star quality, when she is offered a role where she is able to show her strength as an actor. Justin Timberlake actually surprised me in this film. So what about the film Reptile in general, is it a solid thriller? I would say yes since the story is told very effective. You can tell that director Grant Singer ( this is actually his full feature directorial debut film ) really love old school detective cop thrillers since he really want the audience to be interested in the murder case and he manage to do this very well. Reptile actually bring back cop thrillers to the surface after so many films in this genre have not really made an attempt to tell a powerful story. I have no doubt saying that this is one of the best thrillers i have seen in 2023 and i have a feeling that Reptile will continue to find it´s audience on Netflix. Director Gary Singer does not only manage to deliver a very professional film with Reptile but he also manage to show that you don´t have to make a film complicated to make it really good. Reptile is definetely a must watch on Netflix.

Rating: DDDD