Street Kings



"Ludlow: referring to gangbangers across the street Alright, Disco. You see those yahoos? I'm going to jam them. And when I do, one of them's going to bolt. That's the one that's dirty.

Disco: You bored or something?"

Street Kings is a 2008 crime film starring Keanu Reeves, Forest Whittaker, Hugh Laurie & Chris Evans. In the movie, Reeves plays LAPD Detective Tom Ludlow, a functioning alcoholic and widower who cares more about "getting the job done" than playing by the rules. But when his former partner Detective Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) is gunned down in an apparent convenience store robbery Gone Horribly Wrong, Ludlow quickly finds himself implicated in the murder and under investigation by determined Internal Affairs investigator Captain James Biggs (Laurie). Ludlow sets out to Clear His Name with the help of honest cop Detective Paul "Disco" Diskant (Evans) and ends up being forced to confront the corruption on the streets and inside his own unit.

This film provides examples of:
"Thug Kim: Konnichiwa is Japanese. It's insultin' to Koreans.
 * All Asians Are Alike: Ludlow invokes this to goad the Korean gangsters into beating him up and stealing his car.

Ludlow: How am I supposed to tell if you can't?

Thug Kim: Fuck's that supposed to mean, white boy?

Ludlow: It means you got eyes like apostrophes, you dress white, talk black and drive Jew, so how am I supposed to know what kind of zipperhead, dog-munching dink you are if you don't?

Boss Kim: Yo. Do you know who the fuck we are?

Ludlow: Yeah. A couple of panheads buyin' a machine gun out of a trunk."


 * Batman Gambit: This movie employs a couple of these:
 * At the start of the movie, Ludlow intentionally goads the Korean gangsters into beating him up and stealing his car. He then uses the GPS tracking device in the car to track them to their hideout so he can bust in the house, kill them and rescue the two missing Korean schoolgirls locked in a cage deep inside the house.
 * At the end, Biggs reveals that the reason he pushed Ludlow to look deeper into Washington's death

"Ludlow: If you're going to do something, do it now. I know you want my scalp nailed to your wall, but then who's going to go in where the law won't? You, Captain? You? You gonna clean up the needles and baby parts? No. You need me and my company of men. You hate me, but you need me.
 * Blood From the Mouth: Washington and . Justified since Washington had been shot repeatedly in the torso.
 * Buy Them Off:
 * Cowboy Cop: Reconstructed as Biggs recognises that Ludlow's methods, while questionable, are sometimes necessary.
 * Cowboy Cop: Reconstructed as Biggs recognises that Ludlow's methods, while questionable, are sometimes necessary.

Biggs: Ludlow, maybe you're right. Maybe we do need you. But goddamn if you don't need me, son."

"Biggs: One day, you will pass the chief in the hall and he will give you a nod. And you will know why. Because you were right, Tom. We do need you."
 * At the end of the movie:

"Ludlow: So what do they call you?
 * Da Chief: Subverted in that rather than being asked to Turn In His Badge, his captain actively covers up Ludlow's misdeeds.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ludlow.

Quicks: They call me... They call me Quicks, man.

Ludlow: Not quick enough."


 * Dead Person Impersonation: Ludlow starts looking for the drug dealers Freemont and Coates after their DNA is found at the scene of Washington's murder. He later tracks them to their house in the Hollywood Hills, only to discover that
 * Dirty Cop: Although most of the cops in the film are "dirty" to one extent or another, Ludlow and Diskant play this trope straight when they pretend to be corrupt cops in order to meet with  "Freemont" and "Coates"
 * Fake American: Hugh Laurie.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: It's later discovered that
 * Instant Death Bullet: Averted when
 * Large Ham: Forest Whitaker  towards the end of the movie his acting gets so over the top that it makes Keanu Reeves' usual Dull Surprise look like a normal restrained performance by comparison.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
 * It is also heavily implied that two kidnapped girls were sex slaves, so it is much easier to sympathize with Ludlow who technically murdered four people to rescue them.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Washington was killed

"Santos: How can you shoot a guy taking a dump? I mean, seriously, that's sacred. That's like shooting a man in church."
 * The Can Kicked Him: Ludlow shoots one of the Korean gangsters while the man's sitting on the toilet.

"Tom: Whatever happened to just locking up bad people?"
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Washington's death. Both robbers empty an entire clip each into him. Even worse, one of the bullets is Ludlow's thanks to a missed shot that hit Washington by mistake.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Ludlow thinks he's bringing criminals to justice, when in fact.


 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot: The opening sequence features a hungover Ludlow brushing his teeth and then suddenly stopping to throw up in the nearby toilet.
 * What the Hell Hero: After the shooting of the Korean gangsters and the rescue of the girls, Washington calls out his former partner Ludlow by reminding him that the gangsters still had a right to a fair trial. Ludlow responds with I Did What I Had to Do.