“Line of Duty” is a new straight-to-video action-thriller starring Aaron Eckhart as a disgraced cop that accidentally kills the abductor of a child. He then must race against time to right his wrongs and find the girl alive. It’s hard to decide where to start here simply because this is probably the most uniquely familiar action crime-thriller I have seen in recent memory. This movie was wildly fun in places and blatantly flawed in others yet results in a level of spectacle that you have to love in a home entertainment action movie.
It feels very much like a 90’s actioner dropped into the current-era. The action is nicely staged with a good use of practical-effects and it translates to a collection of surprisingly enjoyable set-pieces. There’s plenty of action, from car and foot chases, to gun-play, to hand-to-hand fight sequences. This alone was enough to keep the engagement up. The story is admittedly flawed, and the real-time progression does have many lapses in logic, and how seconds and minutes actually work. But in this case one shouldn’t be expecting a blockbuster or an Academy Award film.
It’s a smaller action movie that does everything in its power to feel large-scale and despite the issues, it succeeds. There’s a comedic layering that was head-scratching in places. The timing and placement of the humor was off many times given the situations in the story. I don’t know whether it was accidental or intentional, but regardless, with the characters committing it was as fascinating as it was amusing as it was adrenaline pumping. Laughs come from the scene themselves as they play-out, and at times from the movie itself for committing to such an oddly uneven tone and it was attention grabbing.
It’s far from great, and the flaws are easy to spot, but with a continual progression and Eckhart acting like he was in a summer popcorn-movie I couldn’t help but enjoy the show. Because that is exactly what it delivered. Eckhart put in a ton of effort and stunt-work to carry the run-time along and with him delivering a range of emotion despite the absurdity at times, I was completely engaged to see where this movie would go next. Something any project should be proud of. There is a place for a wide range of movies and there is certainly a place for this one. Where in spite of its shortcoming, plot-holes, and curiously timed dialogue. The result it still an edge of your seat action story with good performances, fluid direction, and charismatic violence. Making this one certainly worth a shot simply to have a unique film experience.
GRADE: 70%
LINE OF DUTY – VIDEO REVIEW
