A disgraced cop finds himself in a race against time to find a kidnap victim whose abductor he accidentally killed.
“Line of Duty” is the latest in a string of films, thankfully, for us, that are straight-to-DVD from Lionsgate. It stars Aaron Eckhart as the all-American hero trope. Officer Frank Penny is introduced doing an inspirational morning workout set to music, that even early on, feels too overdone. He’s got his exercise and eggs routine down but he struggles whether to wear his wedding band while on duty. In this fantasy world, cops are in top shape and maintain healthy relationships with citizens.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Volk (Giancarlo Esposito), is leading an undercover sting hoping to nab an elusive kidnapper. Unfortunately, the sting is a failure, the suspect stabs an officer and then flees. Over the police radio the dispatcher proclaims, “Officer down, all units stand down.” Frank ignores the latter and begins a pretty thrilling foot pursuit. He catches up with the kidnapper and the two slam into vehicles like they’re wrestling mats. After beating the crap out of each other, the suspect points a gun at him and asks, “what would you do if you lost everything,” and then gets blown away by Frank.
The violent day draws most of the police force to the city’s center. Although the story is set in Los Angeles, filming took place in Birmingham, Alabama. Seeing the one helicopter production secured hovering over the same block with the same church below it only called more attention to the small town posing as a metropolis.
The film touches on the strained relationship between the media and the police force. Clover (Jessica Lu) and Ava (Courtney Eaton) are two millennial journalists that champion their anti-corporate news narrative but they come off more as Goop faux-feminists. I found it odd they didn’t check for information on the breaking news but the whirring of a helicopter causes Ava to grab her Go-Pro and she begins filming Frank. Ava questions law enforcement’s trigger-happy tendencies and an outraged Frank pulls out his pistol and points it in her face to convey, heavy-handedly, how scary it is to be in his profession. It was insane that he wasn’t immediately fired and that Ava didn’t have a nervous breakdown after having a Glock shoved in her face. The mismatched pair join forces to find Volk’s daughter and to manipulatively teach the audience how much we take cops for granted.
“Line of Duty” is stuck straddling different tones, unable to decide what kind of film it wants to be, aside from the obvious propaganda. There are some funny bits but the script suffers from terrible dialogue such as “I’m afraid of two things: my ex-wife and being naked in the shower when an earthquake hits.” The screenplay could’ve been successful as a straightforward comedic action flick in the vein of Shane Black. One of the funniest recurring themes is Frank commandeering multiple vehicles from angry citizens. The kidnapping plot is tired and makes the pace feel more like an episode than a fully fleshed out film.
It’s a mystery what happened to Aaron Eckhart’s career. He was on rocket-like trajectory starring in blockbusters like “The Dark Knight” and then stopped appearing in much of anything noteworthy. He still maintains screen presence and I think he’ll be making a comeback in the near future, just not this time around.
Available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD January 14th from Lionsgate
