Cop Land

Many people see Silvester Stallone as just another action movie hero who can't do anything but that. However, unlike other action movie stars, (Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Seigal etc..) Stallone made his breakthrough with a movie that wasn't really an action movie at heart. He gave forth an excellent performance in Rocky and set a standard for himself that just seemed to fall and fall as his career progressed. He starred in cheesy action movie role after cheesy action movie role until finally people began associating him with nothing but that. Now finally, over twenty years after Rocky, Stallone comes back and shows people that he can be more than an action hero if he wants to. Stallone's performance in Cop Land shows vulnerability, anger, admiration, fear and many other emotions that were rarely present in any of his movie except Rocky. I'm sorry to say that I was one of the many people who took Cop Land for granted when it came to theaters simply because I didn't believe Stallone could do anything but cheesy action movies. Today, I finally rented it out of pure curiosity and was shocked at how far I was from the truth.

Cop Land is a very well made film about a small town that corrupt New York City cops have made their haven. Stallone plays the sheriff of the town, Freddy Heflin, who wanted to be NYPD but couldn't due to a hearing disorder. When Murray 'Superboy' Babitch (Michael Rapaport) shoots and kills two drugged up teenagers when he mistakes a steering wheel club for a gun in a high speed chase, his friends come in to help him. But their far-fetched plan starts to come down on them when Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) from Internal Affairs begins investigating Superboy's alleged suicide. Things begin to go seriously wrong from here and Freddy is caught right in the middle. I thought that Stallone would have been upstaged by all his great co-stars like Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro, but I was wrong. Stallone comes out perfectly as an aging cop with smashed dreams faced with a moral dilemma he doesn't know how to solve. In many ways he idolizes these big time New York cops but he knows that many of the things they do are wrong. In many ways Stallone's performance is far superior to that of his co-stars as he exhibits more depth and character development than any of them.

Cop Land is a somewhat unknown gem that many people overlooked for the wrong reasons. If you have any interest in the genre I would highly recommend it. Cop Land is probably the second best police murder/crime drama I've seen, only behind L.A. Confidential. At times the story has something to be desired and unlike L.A. Confidential is drags in some parts but the fantastic performances by every cast member more than make up for these minor flaws. I give Cop Land 8 stars out of 10.

I didn't really know what to expect from "Cop Land".

You have some expectations when actors like Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel star in this movie - but could Stallone be the quiet Sheriff? The answer is yes, Stallone did well in this movie, he showed that he isn't just an action star, he is a great actor.

"Cop Land" had a nice story, but I think it had more potential. The movie could have lasted for 20-30 minutes more. It was a nice movie anyway, I will rate it 7/10.

Copland is one of those film that gets better and better the more you watch it. The story is gripping and the acting in straight from the top drawer and top of the performances is from Sylvester Stallone. Not normally known for his acting ability, Stallone pulls out his finest performance .To say he is the best in this film is a massive compliment considering the company he performed with in Copland. Robert De niro , Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta all put in memorable displays , of which you would expect but Stallone still stands out. He plays the sheriff of a sleapy town called Garrison who's occupants are all members of the New York police Department.Because of an accident while saving someones life he is unable to pass the medical to get in the NYPD therefore as a sheriff he is not respected amongst the population of the town.He learns that an influential group of cops are crooked and are planning to kill to save their own necks. Totally Gripping. 8 out of 10.

Freddie Heflin is a sheriff in a New Jersey suburb mainly populated by NYPD cops seeking a break from the big city. Freddie lives in awe of the cops, unable to join due to deafness in one ear. However he is forced to confront Donlan and his colleagues when an IA officer Tilden begins to investigate the killing of two unarmed black men by, and subsequent suicide of Donlan's nephew Murray Babitch.

This `independent' thriller boast a deep cast and certainly had a lot to shout about in the run up to it's release. The problem is with the actual story that the film has to work with. The start is exciting with Babitch's killing of two black motorists but it is also quite stretched. Similarly the denouncement is exciting but is quite easy to see it coming. However the middle section is good, as it relies on the characters and the actors to develop the story - although there is probably too much history to squeeze into a short time.

Stallone proves that he can act, being excellent in a particularly unglamorous role, carrying extra weight for the part and looking like he took lessons from De Niro. The rest of the cast would find it hard to be bad - De Niro and Harvey Keitel rekindle their Scorsese partnership and both are good here. Liotta, Rapaport, Patrick and Sciorra are all excellent in smaller roles. Even small roles are played by heavyweights - Emmerich, Moriarty, Spencer, Vincent and Garofalo (who only seems to have 2 scenes!)

Overall the film benefits from a fantastic cast but needed a much stronger plot to justify the depth of the performances.

In their only joint film Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro star in Cop Land, a story about Garrison, New Jersey a small town where an overabundance of NYPD officers reside. So much so that the place is called Cop Land and they have the run of the place.

As the official law in Cop Land the boys in blue have selected a wannabe. Sylvester Stallone who lost the hearing in one ear saving a drowning woman Annabella Sciorra is the police chief. Other than rescuing cats and issuing speeding tickets, but never to the NYPD residents of his town all Stallone does is stand in awe of the people who have the career he wanted.

This whole set up comes tumbling down during a shootout at the George Washington Bridge where Michael Rappaport shoots two black teens, two stupid ones I might add who point something at him he mistakes for an automatic weapon. The NYPD citizens of Cop Land do what they can to cover up the incident, but it all blows up in their faces.

Robert DeNiro who is an internal affairs detective has been looking into the cop residents of Garrison for some time. He tries to recruit Stallone, but Stallone has to see for himself what his 'friends' are really like.

Stallone does one of the best acting jobs in his career. He most assuredly is not playing super hero Rambo or even working class hero Rocky in this. He's a flawed man physically and emotionally and the Garrison NYPD colony don't take him seriously at all. That's part of their downfall.

Besides those already mentioned I would single out Harvey Keitel as the unofficial head of the Garrison cop colony. The more the story unfolds the more frightening Keitel becomes. Cathy Moriarty-Gentile as Keitel's abused wife, Ray Liotta who develops a conscience about what is going on and Frank Vincent as the police union head who is the ultimate target in the Cop Land probe from Internal Affairs.

But it's Stallone who is the real revelation here. It's a different Sly than fans of Rocky and Rambo know.