The Trust – In Cinemas and Digital HD TOMORROW – From Bad Lieutenant to Léon: The Professional: Top Cops Who’ve Crossed The Line In Film
In a department full of sleaze and corruption, Las Vegas cops Jim Stone (Nicolas Cage) and David Waters (Elijah Wood) form an unlikely team as they begin an off-the-books investigation into a bailed heroin dealer.
Discovering the dealer’s huge underground safe beneath an apartment building, they hatch a plan into the safe for their own ends…
The thin blue line has been featured time and time again throughout cinema history. From hardened detective thrillers to intense character studies, corrupt police officers have been a fixture in films.
To celebrate the release of The Trust starring Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood, we take a look at cops who’ve crossed the line in film...
Harvey Keitel as The Lieutenant in "Bad Lieutenant" (1992)
Keitel's lieutenant in Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant is raw and unnerving right from the start. He takes cocaine after dropping his kids off at school and looks the other way while a thief robs cars - it’s not exactly the kind of behaviour for the kind of man who's supposed to lay down the law. Bad Lieutenant provides a portrait of a man out of control, and throughout, he becomes increasingly more destructive. The corruption is an outgrowth of The Lieutenant’s own personal demons more so than the job’s influence on him as a person. Abel Ferrara follows the Scorsese blueprint of sin, guilt, and redemption in this remarkable piece of filmmaking.
Matt Damon as Lieutenant John Sullivan in "The Departed" (2006)
In Martin Scorsese's crime thriller The Departed, everyone has an agenda, a dark side or secrets. Matt Damon's Johnny Sullivan, is the darkest, and most secretive of all. During his elaborate game of cat and mouse with Leonardo DiCaprio's Billy Costigan, Sullivan stabs a bystander and trades police secrets in a dirty cinema. It is no surprise that when the end of the movie comes around he doesn't even pretend to be surprised that he has to be killed.
Ed Harris as Detective Sergeant Remy Bressant in "Gone Baby Gone" (2007)
One can argue that almost everyone in Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone" is dirty. Ed Harris' rotten Detective Sergeant Remy Bressant is one of the worst. He conspires with the uncle of Amanda, a young child who was abducted and presumed dead, all for cash. It's a huge deception and central to the conflict in the film. Greed seems to be one of the driving forces for bad behaviour, especially in law enforcement, and this is never more apparent than in Gone Baby Gone.
Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris in "Training Day" (2001)
In his Oscar-winning performance for the crime-drama Training Day, Denzel Washington plays revered narcotics cop Alonzo Harris, who is put in charge of a rookie cop, played by Ethan Hawke. It's a day-in-the-life look at one of the most challenging divisions of the police department. Alonzo has become tired of his job, creating his own twisted sort of justice. He steals from drug dealers, gambles and reveals himself to be a man lacking any sort of moral compass. It's a powerful portrayal of one of Washington's best.
Woody Harrelson as David Brown in "Rampart" (2011)
A principled man, Dave Brown's single defence of his behaviour is that he hates everybody. Dave is caught on videotape brutally beating a man with whom he had just had a car accident. That as well as other scandals involving a grocery store hold up and internal police corruption only serve to shine a light on his demented bigotry in Rampart.
Gary Oldman as Norman Stansfield in "Léon: The Professional" (1994)
Gary Oldman does does crazy cop like no other in Luc Besson's Léon: The Professional. Oldman plays Stansfield, a corrupt and drug-addicted DEA agent who will stop at nothing to get his hands on his drugs -- which includes murdering an entire family. While the majority of the film focuses on the father-mentor relationship between Mathilda and Leon, Oldman gives a riveting performance that is frightening.
Nicolas Cage as Police Officer Jim Stone in “The Trust” (2016)
Nicolas Cage delivers his best performance in years as a nihilistic cop who teams with a reluctant young officer played by Elijah Wood to stage a big money heist. Cage’s blistering performance has shades of the unhinged Bad Lieutenant and his other, most manic roles. The Trust is a highly tense thriller, and has already picked up stellar reviews from the likes of Variety and The Guardian – making this one of the most-talked-about and must-see upcoming crime thrillers. Both Nicolas and Elijah give truly incredible performances that’s not to be missed.
THE TRUST RELEASES IN CINEMAS AND ON DIGITAL HD ON MAY 27
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