Genre: Crime/Thriller
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Writer: Wesley Campbell
Based on the novel by Will Beall
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Javier Bardem, John Cusack, Ben McKenzie, Jharrel Jerome, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Simu Liu, Robert Sheehan, Michel Duval, Tom Hopper, Edward James Olmos
Plot: Rolling through the streets of South Central L.A., badass beat cop Miguel Marquez (Benicio del Toro) and his rookie partner, Ramos, observe a bank robbery. They call it in, then move in on the robbers’ van—which is rigged with explosives. A wild action sequence follows. The robbers are clearly armed and well-trained. In the melée, Marquez is severely injured, and Ramos is killed.
An opening credits montage follows, intercutting the LAPD’s deplorable history with clean-cut 20-something Ben Halloran’s (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) progression through the LAPD academy. After the montage, Ben arrives for his first day in the 77th district, where he’s paired up with an unenthusiastic Marquez after Lt. Vintner (Edward James Olmos) gives a morning roll-call speech about the increasing racial tensions in the area. Marquez tells Ben he looks soft and asks if he played any sports in high school. Ben says he was on the fencing team. Marquez shows Ben his many guns, including a non-issue .44, and suggests that Ben improve his weaponry. They roll up on Tony T, a wino. Marquez tells Ben to arrest him for public intoxication. Ben tries, but Tony T starts beating on him. It’s quickly evident that this is a setup to initiate Ben. Ben responds to the assault by pounding Tony T in the crotch. Marquez is impressed.
Meanwhile, crooked patrolmen Risley (Ben McKenzie) and Mapes (Tom Hopper) cruise around MacArthur Park, collecting money from the prostitutes and drug money from dealers like Deadeye (Robert Sheehan). Deadeye’s friend and ex-cellmate, Wizard, got high and killed one of Risley’s hookers—his “cash cow”—which pisses Risley off. In retaliation, Risley breaks Deadeye’s dope-dealing hand. On Crenshaw Boulevard, Ben tries to convince Marquez that he’s a good officer. Marquez refuses to believe it—any skills that Ben may have meant nothing in South Central. Then, among many black gangstas, they notice a guy, Deandre (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), hanging back a bit. Marquez explains that he’s the type to inform. Trying to look casual, Deandre steals a car that, it turns out, had already been stolen earlier that day. They chase him. Eventually, he abandons the car and Ben is forced to chase him on foot. Marquez also chases him on foot, and before long, they corner him on a pedestrian bridge over a freeway. Left with no alternative, Deandre scales the fence and jumps onto the highway. Against Marquez’s orders, Ben follows him. Before long, they’re up on rooftops, and Ben tackles Deandre. They crash through a skylight—right into Wizard’s apartment, where his bloated corpses lie slumped over the sink.
After they both vomit from the stench and the workout, Ben cuffs Deandre. Marquez shows up, trailed by their elaborate backup, and chews out Ben for ditching him. Later, homicide detective Chuin (Simu Liu) examines the scene with Marquez. They find a ledger that indicates Wizard was the “tax collector” to drug kingpin Joe Carcosa. Back at the station, Marquez and Chuin pore over the ledger and learn Deadeye has been short for the past several weeks. While the two of them interrogate Deandre, which results in Marquez beating him with a phonebook, the ledger mysteriously goes missing. Marquez finds out Deandre saw combat in Iraq and is an expert in explosives, which makes him realize Deandre was at the bank robbery in which Ramos got killed. Chuin presents Marquez with a theory about what happened to the ledger: Ben took it. Marquez doesn’t believe it.
Marquez takes Ben to a club where Deadeye is known to hang. It’s crawling with gangsters. When they’re threatened by some of Deadeye’s thugs, Ben pulls out his gun and shoots at them in perfect Spanish, surprising Marquez. Next, they get into Deadeye’s office. First, Deadeye denies knowing Wizard; then, he denies skimming off Carcosa’s money; then, he denies that Carcosa would have Wizard killed because Deadeye would have heard about it. Finally, he offers the MS-13 gang as the possible culprits. Meanwhile, Deandre calls his pot-growing pal GETSOME for help with his criminal troubles. GetSome says he’ll handle it.
Marquez and Ben roll into MS-13 territory. Ben speculates that the best way to find Wizard’s killer is to figure out who would benefit from his death. Marquez ignores him. They arrive at an abandoned building where an MS-13 gang member, Sombra (Michel Duval), holes up. It’s a creepy, filthy, booby-trapped place. Marquez and Ben have to fight their way through a bunch of MS-13 warriors to get to Sombra, but after a convoluted action sequence, they both end up on the bed of a flatbed truck. Sombra pursues, getting into the truck cab, and they all end up in the L.A. River. For some reason, Sombra recognizes Ben, but before anyone can make anything of this, Marquez shoots Sombra. Marquez asks why Sombra would be crazy enough to attempt to murder cops. Sombra tells him there’s a “green light” on cops since cops “crossed the line” by killing Wizard. Then he dies. As the site of Sombra’s death is turned into a crime scene, Ben is introduced to the head of Internal Affairs.
Big Ben Kahn (John Cusack), a charismatic attorney, arrives to bail Deandre out and ask him some questions. When Deandre mentions the bank heist, Big Ben takes a pause. Big Ben visits Darius (Jharrel Jerome), a gangster who also heads a notable hip-hop record label. He asks Darius if he had any involvement with Wizard’s death, but Darius denies it. Nevertheless, Big Ben warns Darius that Carcosa may come after him anyway. Back at the 77th station house, the difficulty of the day has taken its toll on Ben. Marquez gives Ben a Glock .45 that belonged to Ramos and officially welcomes Ben to the district. Ben returns home, where he reveals that he did indeed take the ledger. A gangster thug shows up at Ben’s apartment and tells him “he” wants to see Ben.
Darius asks Risley, who has come calling seemingly as a friend or business associate responsible for the Wizard’s death. Risley says the rumor is that it was cops. Darius is uneasy—he doesn’t want to end up in a war with Carcosa. Risley and Big Ben admire a sword Darius owns that allegedly belonged to Nat Turner. Ben shows up at Joe Carcosa’s (Javier Bardem) house, asking about the ledger. Ben says they didn’t find a ledger. Carcosa tells Ben he needs to find the cops who killed Wizard and, most importantly, find the ledger.
The following day, Marquez, Ben, and Chuin learn that Deandre turned up dead shortly after getting released on bail. After dismissing Ben, Chuin tells Marquez he went through Ben’s personnel file and found it so clean, Ben may not have existed before entering the academy. He urges Marquez to get rid of Ben. Marquez doesn’t: if he’s not dirty, Marquez will be hanging him out to dry for no reason; if he is, Marquez would rather have him close than far. Ben runs to the bathroom and flashes back to a quinceañra at Carcosa’s house. At the party, he and Darius are close friends. Carcosa and Sombra torture a man into signing some papers while Ben watches with some amusement. Later, in private, Big Ben complains that his son, Ben, shouldn’t be a part of whatever they have planned. Carcosa insists that he must.
In the present, Marquez and Ben visit the home of C-LOVE, a petty thug who posted bail for Deandre. Marquez grills C-Love until he gives up the name of the person who gave him the money: GetSome. C-Love warns that Marquez will never get near him. Marquez tells C-Love to get his pregnant girlfriend and be ready later that night, so Marquez can put them on a train to Barstow until the heat dies down. Big Ben warns Risley that Carcosa may have a man on the inside. Marquez and Ben survey GetSome’s crib. They spot an ice cream truck that drives around, only it doesn’t sell ice cream: it’s a mobile gun repair station. Marquez and Ben hold up the driver and force him to go to GetSome’s crib. They use the ice cream truck to ambush GetSome’s security force. After a wild action sequence in which GetSome nearly kills Ben, Marquez finally gets to GetSome. He threatens him, but GetSome is not easily intimidated. GetSome shows Marquez the business card of his attorney, Big Ben.
Ben flashes back to a launch party for Darius’s hip-hop magazine. Big Ben and Ben argue. Darius tells Ben he’s going legit until he’s attacked on the red carpet. Ben, Darius, and his security force retreat. Later, they show up at Certain Death’s hotel; Darius blamed the attack and wanted to kill. Ben tries to get Darius to listen to reason, but Darius lashes out at Ben. Ben knows where this is headed, so he disappears. The next day—the day of the bank robbery—Carcosa offers Ben a deal: if Ben enters the police academy and informs him, Carcosa will make Ben Kahn, Jr., disappear.
In the present, Marquez and Ben have arrested GetSome, but Risley and Mapes show up and tell Lt. Vintner that he’s their informant. Marquez tries to beat the hell out of Risley in the middle of the squad room. Marquez and Chuin explain the chain of evidence that led them to GetSome, and while Vintner believes them, he wants to proceed by the books. Marquez balks that there isn’t time for that, but Vintner doesn’t want to hear it. Later, C-Love and his girlfriend, Rayneece, are gunned down by men in a passing patrol car. On the way to pick up C-Love, Marquez outright accuses Ben of being IAD. Ben denies it. They discover the shooting—and the crowd that has gathered, all aware that the police did this, none happy about it. Marquez and Ben call for backup. Rayneece is still alive, so she’s rushed to the hospital. Chuin points out that Ben is one of the only people who knew Marquez’s plan for C-Love. At the hospital, Ben is forced to comfort Rayneece’s grieving mother. He reluctantly promises to make her killers pay for their crimes.
When Ben gets back with Marquez, Marquez sees something different about him—after what he’s seen, he’s an honest cop now. Ben speculates that Risley killed C-Love. Marquez tells Ben that Risley was the best rookie he ever trained, but he’s gone bad. Marquez didn’t believe it—until he saw Risley at the bank robbery. Marquez says he hesitated when he recognized Risley, but he won’t hesitate again. Ben wonders why they wouldn’t just arrest Risley. Marquez explains that Risley has been involved in so many arrests that everyone would be turned loose on appeal if he went down for his crimes. The LAPD wouldn’t risk that. Marquez demands to know who Ben is. Ben explains he’s the son of Big Ben Kahn, and he was a mole for Carcosa until yesterday. Marquez tells Ben he needs to decide which side he’s on.
Marquez and Ben’s pay GetSome another visit. This time, they torture him for information. Eventually, GetSome admits that Risley found out about Wizard’s skimming, threatened to rat him out, so Wizard tried to bribe him with dope, but it wasn’t enough. So Wizard told Risley about the bank where Carcosa laundered his money; they put a crew together and hit it. Marquez wonders where Risley could find such a well-trained crew, and GetSome explains that gangsters have been sending soldiers to Iraq to learn tactics for urban warfare. So they intend to pin the robbery on Darius so Carcosa will take him out, allowing GetSome to take control. Instead, an LAPD cruiser pulls up outside—it’s Risley, leading a pack of Crip commandos. They go after Marquez, while Ben attempts to follow and defend. After another wild action sequence, Marquez is seriously injured, and Ben is attacked from behind.
Ben awakens in a creepy warehouse filled with gangsters. Risley and Mapes appear just as Marquez regains consciousness. Risley tries to justify his criminal activities by offering that if he didn’t do it, somebody else would, and they wouldn’t have the city’s best interests at heart. Ben tries to fight his way out, and when that fails, he announces he’s working for Joe Carcosa, who sent him to find out who robbed the bank. That gets their attention, but it does little to save him. They hang Ben and Marquez over a pit filled with angry pit bulls and a jaguar. They’re tied together on a pulley, so the heaviest one (Marquez) will be lowered into the pit first, followed (after he’s torn to shreds) by Ben. Marquez is killed in grisly, leering detail. Ben wraps his legs around Marquez’s mangled body as it rises out of the pit in an effort to save himself. He retrieves Marquez’s secret .44—which the Crips didn’t find—and starts blasting at Risley and the gangsters as he swings furiously in the hopes that the chain will break and release him. Eventually, it does, and Ben manages to narrowly escape to the trainyards outside. He leaps onto a freight train, waits until the tracks go over the freeway, then dives into a modular home traveling on the back of a flatbed. Risley and Mapes witness this. They scramble for their patrol car and pull the truck over, tasing Ben, arresting him, and claiming he’s on PCP.
Risley and Mapes drag Ben back to Darius’s place. They’re surprised Darius knows him. Darius says they used to be friends, and Big Ben is his lawyer. This surprises Ben, but all the pieces fall into place: Big Ben was the one who told Risley to rob the bank, and he’s the one holding Carcosa’s money. Risley shoots Darius’s security, then Darius. Ben manages to free himself, although he’s still handcuffed, and Ben is quickly cornered. Before he dies, Darius grabs Nat Turner’s sword and runs it through Mapes. Risley pulls another sword off the wall. He and Ben fight; thanks to Ben’s fencing skills, he kills Risley.
At Marquez’s funeral, Lt. Vintner gives a stirring speech about his courage and honor. Ben is surprised when Big Ben shows up. Ben flashes back to the previous night. He goes to Carcosa, tells him he’s out and hands him Wizard’s ledger. He goes to a car where Chuin and Vintner wait. Ben’s wired: they have Carcosa’s confession on tape. In the present, Chuin and a couple of other detectives arrest Big Ben for his role in the bank heist and its aftermath. Despite what’s happening, Big Ben feels some amount of proud redemption that his son is a better person than he is.
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