Movie Review: ‘Line Of Duty’

Review by Bradley Smith

A disgraced cop teams up with a live-streaming news broadcaster to rescue the daughter of the police chief. Line of Duty is a “race-against-time” action thriller that effectively pulls together familiar tropes and adds just enough to give them a fresh scent. While plausibility is questionable in some scenes, the movie is an entertaining thrill ride with a great cast, and I would highly recommend it.

Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Olympus Has Fallen) leads the cast as Frank Penny, a beat cop with a somewhat lengthy and checkered past who leaps into action to catch a criminal despite being ordered to stand down. When things do not go well, he is suspended, but, again, he ignores the suspension to search for the police chief’s kidnapped daughter (the same police chief that suspended him and will not listen to anything more from Frank). Enter Ava Brooks.

Ava Brooks (Courtney Eaton; Mad Max: Fury Road, Gods of Egypt) runs her own live-streaming news channel with maybe a thousand subscribers. She believes she is bringing the “real” news because it is unfiltered, not sponsored, and she is not afraid to run after a cop in the middle of a chase for a dangerous criminal. Frank reluctantly, to his benefit, agrees to team up with the journalist who broadcasts their search nearly continuously from then on while managing to stay mostly out of trouble as Frank is shot at, tossed around, or nearly trips explosions.

There are a couple of sub-genres and homages present that add other levels. For example, Frank and Ava have an odd couple/buddy cop type partnership. They are from different generations with different views and are kind of forced to work together due to circumstances only to learn to respect each other. There is also a “real time” quality to crank up the tension. Though not quite as strict as 24, for example, the movie does take place within a very limited time frame, especially once the life or death stakes are set in motion. And just like 24, a little suspension of reality is useful so you do not question things like how Frank is able to run across a huge bridge with a great view of a body of water within a matter of moments.

The main characters have some worthwhile depth. It slows down the action in one or two scenes, but it makes for a well rounded look at these characters. Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Once Upon A Time) might be an exception as he could have had more depth, especially considering he plays the police chief. Still a pretty good way to spend nearly 100 minutes. See if you can recognize Ben McKenzie (Gotham, Southland); I did not.