by Paramount
| Average Rating: |
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| Sales Rank: | 22582 (lower is better) |
| Price as of: | 08/27/2008 12:11:53 PM MDT |
| Price Used: | $0.01 |
| Shipping: | Free Shipping on most orders over $25* |
| Availability: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| Director: | Joe Carnahan |
| Release Date: | 2003-06-17 |
| Label: | Paramount |
| UPC: | 097363418344 |
| Binding: | DVD |
| Published By: | Paramount |
| ASIN: | B00008YJDK |
| Category: | DVD |
Actors and Actresses
Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions
Description
NARC tells the story of suspended undercover narcotics officer, Nick Tellis (Patric), who is reluctantly drawn back onto the force to find the truth behind the murder of a young police officer killed in the line of duty. He is teamed with Henry Oak (Liotta), the slain officer’s partner, a rogue cop who will stop at nothing to avenge his friend’s death. As Tellis and Oak unravel the case, the dark underbelly of the narcotics world reveals itself in surprising ways that are more twisted than either officer has ever seen before -- and the mystery threatens to destroy them both.
Amazon.com
Jittery camera moves and a gray-blue palette make it clear that Narc is a gritty police drama in the tradition of The French Connection and Serpico. Jason Patric (Rush, Your Friends & Neighbors) plays Nick Tellis, a former undercover cop with an accidental death on his conscience, which may be why he's agreed to partner with Henry Oak (Ray Liotta), a lieutenant determined to track down the killers of his former partner. This could all be rote, but the grit sticks: writer-director Joe Carnahan takes a huge leap forward from his Tarentino-wannabe first film, Blood, Guts, Bullets & Octane. The entire cast is excellent; Patric and Liotta give rich, textured performances that make their respective obsessions vivid and sad. Narc could use more of the dark humor that occasionally bursts out, but the movie's drive and energy make it more than a bleak tale of good intentions gone bad. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Underrated Crime Drama - Reviewed on 2008-03-06
3 customers found this review helpful, 4 did not.
It's been a while since I have seen a good new crime drama so I thought I would bring attention to this little known oldie but goodie. OK, it's not really that old, but it does seem to have gone under the radar, which is a shame, because it really is good. Set in dreary Detroit, two Detectives (Liotta and Patric) are investigating the murder of an undercover cop who happens to be Liotta's ex-partner. Both men have their own personal demons to deal with, and as the case wears on, both men's notions of truth and justice will be put to the test. There's nothing overly complex or cliched about the film and it doesn't try too hard to be profound. It's just a good, realistic, urban police drama with a nice denouement, which seems to be rare these days.
Modern day crime drama with depth and despair galore - Reviewed on 2007-07-27
4 customers found this review helpful.
Narc is not your typical run of the mill "cops and robbers" film. A gritty, hard-nosed look into the life and times of an undercover narcotics agent, it explores a variety of themes while never losing direction from the main story. Although the film does not play out to spend too much time in showing you the ropes of being undercover, Jason Patric's performance as Nick Tellis is superb in bringing a dark, desolate personality that holds up for the character he plays quite well. Tellis is brought back onto the case of another "Narc" named Michael Calvess, who perished in the line of duty. Calvess's partner (Lt. Henry Oak) is angry for revenge and as time begins to run out, he pushes Tellis along with what sanity he has left, to the brink before inevitable closing of the investigation. The film does a great job of bringing in some back story for both Calvess's life and his partner's (played by Ray Liotta) mysterious connections, as well as showing some scenes on the home front of what Tellis's family life is going through as he descends back into the madness of his profession after the trauma that he went through the last time things went bad.
The interrogation scene in the garage is raw and gives up some surprising notes, and I felt that this film had enough twists and turns in it without getting out of hand to keep everything balanced within a simple story that invoked themes of right vs. wrong and how warped and confusing the tangled web can get when you are jumping the fence into that other realm. Liotta and Patric both put in stellar performances, and although largely a character driven film, still has plenty of cat and mouse games as well as violence, whether hand to hand or by firearm.
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Book Subjects
- Action / Adventure
- Bleak
- Color
- Crime
- Crime Thriller
- Cynical
- Drama
- Drug Addiction
- Drug Content
- Drug Trade
- English
- Feature
- Feature Film-drama
- Forceful
- Going Undercover
- Graphic Violence
- Gritty
- Harsh
- Movie
- Murder Investigations