The old cry of the vendors at baseball parks who sold the scorecards with the cry, 'you can't tell the players without a scorecard' could hold true here. Even the issuance of uniforms to the police don't necessarily make them the good guys in Dark Blue.

A decade earlier a film called Extreme Justice that starred Lou Diamond Phillips and Scott Glenn was made and it was also about the Special Investigation Squad, a group unique to the Los Angeles Police Department. In that one it was flat out stated that the group was a sanctioned death squad for the LAPD. It's not quite that here, in fact we're not sure what they do.

Kurt Russell stars as a veteran of that squad and he comes from a law enforcement tradition going back in his family to the Old West. His background and disregard for due process is a quality that they like for that squad. He's got a young partner in Scott Speedman whom he's trying to show the ropes.

The Special Investigation Squad is something that one of the high ranking officers in the LAPD, Ving Rhames wants to bring down. He sees it as a racist enclave and some of the statements by Russell and his superior Brendan Gleeson sure give Rhames enough cause to think as he does.

Russell and Speedman are given an assignment to track down the two perpetrators of a robbery of a market in which four people were killed, one of them a dispatcher for the LAPD. But it seems as though everyone has a different agenda on this one and it ends in tragedy.

In the cast I liked Speedman the best. He was great as the bright and eager young cop looking to make his bones so to speak with that squad. He and Kurt Russell played off well against each other.

A couple of women also give standout performances in supporting roles. Lolita Davidovitch as Russell's long suffering wife who finally gives him his walking papers and Michael Michele who is working for Rhames, but dating Speedman. She's a girl with an agenda all her own.

Dark Blue is a very good police drama, the second about LAPD's Special Investigations Squad and a much better film than Extreme Justice.

It's 1992 as L.A. awaits the verdict of the Rodney King trial. Special Investigations Squad (SIS) rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) is being questioned about an shooting incident. His partner is the rough and tumble veteran detective Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell). Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson) runs the SIS. Assistant Chief Holland (Ving Rhames) opposes the rough tactics and vows to get Eldon and Bobby. He is assisted by Beth Williamson (Michael Michele) who is sleeping with Bobby without knowing each other's identity. Eldon is getting promoted and has a brassy wife Sally (Lolita Davidovich). Jack is corrupted covering for a couple of gunmen Darryl Orchard (Kurupt) and Gary Sidwell (Dash Mihok) whose shooting Bobby and Eldon are investigating.

It's the standard corrupt cop crime drama with lots of tough talk from Kurt Russell. Scott Speedman is playing the naive rookie. There are a few other good actors as well. The case is laid right out without much mystery. It's all testosterone. It's a lot of yelling. It's nothing special. The acting is reasonable but this is all pulpy without any realism. It's fine but it's not anything award worthy. It tries to incorporate the L.A. riots which is a mistake. It could never be big enough to be compelling or real enough to be scary. Making a movie about the riots would be much better. Also Kurt Russell's final speech goes on a little too long. It probably needs to be cut in half.

Dark Blue was one of those movies I saw the trailer for back when it was first coming out in theaters that I had always wanted to see. For one reason or another I put it off and I eventually forgot about it. Over time some fellow film fans said this was worth watching and deserves a look. Kurt Russell's character is mean and lovable. He's a dirty cop, but we're with him every step of the way. There is a little bit of Training Day in this but one could argue Dark Blue is dirtier and angrier. This is not a typical character for Kurt Russell, and it's one of his best films from the past 10 years. I was surprised I hadn't seen this back when it came out. If you love Kurt, action films, and cop stories than Dark Blue is for you. Overall a good movie.