Scarred City
(1998)
Director: Ken Sanzel
Cast: Stephen Baldwin, Tia Carrere, Renee Estevez
One day years
ago when I was a teenager, I went to see a movie at the local two-plex
cinema. When I was in the lobby, a poster for a Richard Gere movie
caught my eye. What really got my attention was the tagline on the
poster, which read in part, "More seductive than sex. More
addictive than any drug. More precious than gold. And one man can get
it for you. For a price." No, the poster wasn't talking about Richard
Gere. It was talking about what also happened to be the title of the
movie - Power.
To date I have still not seen the movie, but that tagline has stuck
with me right up to this present day. Who doesn't relish the idea of
being in a serious position of power? It comes as no surprise that many
people look at the various available avenues out there that might land
them in a position of power. Certainly, a lot of these positions are
illegal and threaten to eventually put the person behind bars, so that
thankfully turns off a lot of people. Most people look at legal ways of
getting into a powerful position. One of the most obvious is being in
some position of government. Even if you don't have the stamina to get
to be President of the United States and keep that position, you can
always run for mayor or some kind of counsilman - those potions
definitely contain some perks. But there are some other kinds of
authority positions that can give you that great feeling of power. If
you become a fireman, you can get the admiration of your fellow
citizens for doing what can be a dangerous job and helping your city
out. An even more admired position of power is becoming a police
officer. That role definitely comes with some danger, but if you are
willing to accept that risk, you'll find you'll have ample opportunity
to steer the public you encounter on your beat in many different ways.
Unfortunately, when it comes to legal positions of power
like some I have just described, there have been many times when a
quotation by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton made in the nineteenth
century has proven to be very true: "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad
men." While I have not personally heard of any real life tales of
firemen abusing their position of power, I did see an episode of The Simpsons
with Homer Simpson and his friends becoming firemen and exploiting
their power. But when it comes to those other so-called legal positions
of power I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I have certainly heard
true tales of people in those positions going way too far with their
power and engaging in illegal activity, and I think you have as well.
The various true stories of politicians getting so drunk with power and
descending into corruption (and worse) are endless; who hasn't heard of
what American President Richard Nixon did that when revealed forced him
to resign? Then there are the many cases with police officers. I'm sure
you have heard your share of stories of police officers doing things
like using their position to stop and harass various citizens (often
minorities) in various ways. But there are darker true stories out
there. There is the case of the police force in Mexico, which I've
heard has the majority of police officers taking in one form or another
bribes from the local drug trade. I have also heard about the police
force in Brazil, which I've heard several times have had select
officers secretly forming vigilante gangs to kill various people who
live in poverty, even if there is no real proof that these poor people
are involved in the high level of crime that plagues the country.
When I hear true tales of corrupt police officers like
the ones that I have just described, it certainly makes me feel sad...
but at the same time, part of me is also intrigued. I wonder what on
earth happened to these people to turn them from people who (probably)
entered the police force with
good intentions in mind to people who are
no better than the criminals they are supposed to apprehend. Over the
years, I have come up with a few theories. Maybe they eventually got
frustrated with dealing with the rules that held them back. Maybe they
saw criminals living the high life, and wondered why they couldn't do
so as well. Actually, there don't seem to be any easy answers - it
seems there have to be many things that push a cop to become corrupt.
I'm still looking for answers, and one avenue I've used is the world of
B movies. Over the years they have given me a little insight, as well
as entertainment. So there were two reasons why I decided to watch the
corrupt cop movie Scarred
City.
Actually, there were three - it was a Millennium/Nu Image production,
the modern day Cannon Films whose complete output I've been trying to
watch. The central protagonist of the movie is a fellow by the name of
John Trace (Baldwin, Bio-Dome)
a police officer who at the beginning of the movie is in danger of
being drummed out of the force for using his firearm on his beat on
several occasions. Before that can happen, however, superior officer
Lieutenant Devon (Palminteri, Mulholland Falls)
asks Trace if he would like to be transferred to a special squad made
up of police officers who supposedly have his same frame of mind of
getting bad guys by any means necessary. Trace soon agrees, and he
joins the squad, but soon sees that the squad is more or less just a
glorified vigilante squad that freely kills people. He is horrified,
but feels trapped. But one day during a raid on a mobster's mansion,
Trace manages to save the life of a woman named Candy (Carrere, Wayne's
World)
while his fellow squad members kill everybody else inside. Eventually,
the squad finds out about Trace's action, and shortly after Trace and
Candy are on the run not only from the squad, but from the city's
mobsters.
If you are as much of a fan of movies that come from
Millennium/Nu Image as I am, you know that while they have made all
kinds of movies to date, there is one kind of movie they are best known
for. It's the same kind of movie that Cannon Films was best known for.
You guessed it - action. Millennium/Nu Image certainly has made some
great action movies over the years, though the fact that this one was
written and directed by Ken Sanzel, the writer/director of Lone
Hero - which I had mixed feelings about - gave me a little
pre-viewing pause. But as it turns out, Scarred City
does not disappoint for the most part, especially when it comes to the
action sequences. The action in the movie is very well done. Sanzel
manages to successfully handle two key ingredients in the action
sequences. The first is a sense of chaos; you don't feel that the
participants in the various gun battles and car chases are going
through the motions and following strict choreography. You feel that
they are really struggling to stay alive and on top of the situation.
It's probably because of this that the second key ingredient manages to
be generated, that being a great feeling of excitement and
exhilaration. While the action isn't quite up to that coming from
masters of action like John Woo or Isaac Florentine, it all the same
will manage to quench the thirst of those craving some high quality
screen violence. An unbelievable amount of bullets get to be fired, and
the surrounding scenery as well as some characters get visibly chewed
up by them. Sanzel also makes sure on occasion to throw in an
especially brutal action by the characters, moments that will raise the
eyebrows of even the most jaded action fan and add some welcome extra
punch to the impact of the action.
As for other aspects of Sanzel's direction, there is
additional merit to be found in the movie. Sanzel was working with a
tight budget, which occasionally shows (the police precinct interiors
look suspiciously like a long abandoned building hastily fitted with
props), but for the most part the movie looks pretty good under his
control, with professional photography as well as lighting. He also
manages to make some impressive camera movements, from using cranes to
hand held cameras. Most importantly, besides getting the action down
right, he manages to unfold the events of the movie one after another
fairly quickly so that there are no dead spots along the way. And this
is despite the fact that his screenplay could have used a bit more work
before filming started. The idea of the story isn't a bad one, and
Sanzel does manage to on occasion to throw in some intelligence, like
giving a good explanation as to why the protagonists do not simply go
to the press to report the dirty dealings that are going on. But there
are some gaping holes in the story. They range from the never explained
fact as to why Baldwin's character at the beginning of the movie is
still on the beat after being already involved in three shootings in
the past year to how it's also not explained as to why he has never
even gotten the slightest wind in the past of the vigilante cop squad,
especially since they seem to shoot and kill everybody that they feel
is in their way. There are a significant number of moments like those
throughout Scarred
City,
and I don't know whether it was due to Sanzel's possible weakness as a
writer or if he was forced by circumstances (producers' interference and/or
the low budget?) to cut out key explanations in order to get the movie
completed.
The weaknesses of the screenplay for Scarred City
also extend to the characters in the movie. Actually, it's more with
Baldwin's character than anyone else. In the opening of the movie,
where Baldwin shoots and kills an unarmed drug dealer he thought was
pulling a gun out of his pocket, and over the body spits out, "Stupid
f**k!", Baldwin's character is instantly soured to us in the audience.
Although the movie subsequently makes attempts to redeem the character,
it was hard at times to sympathize with this guy, especially since
Baldwin himself doesn't seem to be trying hard with his acting. He
comes across for the most part as bland and unemotional. As Baldwin's
adversary, Palminteri does come across somewhat better. Thankfully he
does not chew the scenery or come across as a cartoon character. He
isn't a classic villain, but he gets his job done acceptably, though I
wish that his (inevitable) send-off at the end was a bit more
spectacular. However, things are a lot better when it comes to
Carrere's character. Unlike most movies of this sort where strippers
and prostitutes are portrayed as cowardly and weak, this is not the
case here. Carrere's character is written to have a surprising amount
of backbone as well as some good smarts, even when the bullets start to
fly right around her. Carrere's tough but sympathetic performance
manages to compliment the writing of her character very well, and this
character ends up being a very likable woman who isn't the least bit
annoying. Although Carrere's good performance and well-written
character in Scarred
City
are surrounded by those notable flaws that I mentioned earlier, there
is still enough good stuff overall to be found in the movie to make a
viewing experience at the very least worth the cost of a rental.
(Posted September 1, 2022)
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See also: Cole Justice, Self Defense, The Sweeper
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