Dark Blue

Dark Blue is an exciting police film based on a story by James Ellroy, who also provided the novel for Curtis Hanson's masterly, wide-ranging "L. A. Confidential". The novel's fascinating film noir universe is updated in Dark Blue, which is set in 1992, but the themes are the same.

As the title suggests, the tone is sombre. The protagonist Eldon Perry accordingly has his dark sides too. He is a capable policeman, but thoroughly corrupt and brutish. When he is given the task of finding some black men who can take the blame for a bloody robbery, he obeys orders. The two vile criminals he suspects are being protected by his superior, Jack Van Meter.

For Eldon Perry backhanders and tampering with evidence have become everyday fare, but he is beginning to feel the consequences: his wife wants a divorce, he drinks too much and he can barely stand himself. Moreover, his new young partner Bobby Keough is genuinely shaken by what he witnesses. At first Bobby is loyal to his partner and to Jack Van Meter, but in the long run he cannot live with his misdeeds. Both he and Eldon Perry come to play a central role in the showdown between the corrupt and racist Jack Van Meter and the part of the police leadership that can no longer tolerate the moral rot.