Cop Car
Two young boys, Travis and Harrison, are idly strolling through rural open plains on their way to the woods when they encounter an empty police car. Their youth shows through as they have to dare each other to even approach the seemingly abandoned vehicle. Soon they overcome their fear when they see there is no one around and in the midst of playing with the car discover the keys have been left inside. Of course their first foolish instinct is to take it for a joy ride.
This turns out to be a worse than normal decision since the car is the property of the corrupt Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon). He was out in the middle of nowhere disposing of evidence and returns to find his patrol car gone. He wastes no time in covering up for the missing car and getting to a radio so he can try to retrieve it. Once he learns it was Travis and Harrison who took it; a cat and mouse game ensues with the boys, who have no sense of the real danger they’re in.
The film offers a great slow burn and build in tension. The story is down to Earth and so grounded that it plays more like a true crime reenactment than fiction. The screenplay shows an incredible insight into its characters and their realism. The boys make the genuinely stupid but honest mistakes that kids would make. There are some cringe-inducing moments as they exercise naïve child-logic when they find the cars firearms.
Kevin Bacon’s Sheriff is the embodiment of evil; in a single day he seems to have engaged in every conceivable felony. Bacon plays him has a perfect self-serving monster, a man who is willing to use his training to try and manipulate the boys so he can still cover for his crimes. As a character, we are given just enough backstory to get an idea of how terrifying this individual is and that gives context to his pursuit. We learn just enough to believe that he will go to some disgusting lengths to recover this car and Bacon brings that out with unflinching sincerity.
Cop Car is a great ride that gives us almost a real time portrayal of the crime. It drops some fictional conventions to preset just and the facts and that makes for an intriguing and unpredictable tale. This is one of the better corrupt cop thrillers I’ve ever seen and is a ride worth taking in the theater.
Cop Car opens limited in theaters starting August 7th, including the Alamo South Lamar in Austin Texas.
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.