Reviews
Time Out
Tom Huddleston
“The film’s foremost act of rebellion against Hollywood orthodoxy is its absolute avoidance of narrative momentum: though numerous plot strands weave in and out, very few are resolved. This is a character study plain and simple, a journey into the mind of one very serious, very smart, very sick individual. And Harrelson more than rises to the occasion: this is not only by far his finest performance but one of the most impressive in recent memory.”
21/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Observer
Philip French
“Harrelson's Brown is paranoia and self-justification personified, a man torn between retribution and redemption, driven to suspecting everyone around him and using his formidable knowledge of the law to baffle his antagonists and provide a cloak of innocence ... It confirms Harrelson's position as one of the best, most ambitious, least self-regarding actors at work today, and by the end he's compelled us to understand Brown and accord him a grudging respect.”
26/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Independent on Sunday
Jonanthan Romney
“I'm not sure why the film falls somewhat short of brilliance. Rampart is a compelling, classy character study that's crammed with good qualities – almost too crammed. I can't remember when I last saw a film that wasn't an ensemble piece but was so full of notable cameos. But the result is that you never quite get a grip on Brown's world or the people in it. Because this is a police story, you expect more of a cogent narrative – which doesn't mean that there ought to be one, simply that you expect one. ”
26/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Cosmos Landesman
“Imagine Bad Lieutenant without the coke and Catholic guilt. It’s set in LA in 1999, and has as its backdrop the true events involving the widespread corruption of the Rampart Division. Directed by Oren Moverman (who directed Harrelson in The Messenger) and co-written with James Ellroy, it portrays a man who can’t adapt to a new world of civil rights, considerate policing, bars where you can’t smoke and teenage kids who diss their dads.”
26/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Times
Wendy Ide
“Sufficiently distinctive to stand up as one of the best of its ilk.”
24/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
“LAPD fun, the world knows, is in a class of its own. “Rampart” is the precinct with the worst record: so bad it inspired a cable teleseries, The Shield. The movie ... has a shimmying complexity and a savage wit. At its centre is a character portrait almost as memorably excruciating – in its tormented, self-tormenting psyche – as Büchner’s Woyzeck.”
23/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“An involving and tense study of a long, slow, agonising endgame; scenes from a life in denial and descent.”
23/02/2012
Read Full Review
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
“It’s a vivid, often mesmerizing portrait of a man rotting from the inside out, though perhaps only partly because the organization he works for, and the world he inhabits, are sick too. Yet why Dave does what he does is anyone’s guess, because one of the movie’s strengths is that it finds meaning in his actions without trying to explain him. Some people, it suggests, remain mysteries, which, however maddening, also helps make Dave insistently watchable. ”
22/11/2011
Read Full Review
The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness
“The film gradually changes from another Bad Lieutenant-esque trip into insanity to a more meditative film about the cost of crossing the line to get the job done.”
23/02/2012
Read Full Review
Channel 4 Film
Rebecca Davies
“There's one big problem. Dave is a complete arsehole. None of the characters in the film can bear to spend more than a few minutes with him, but we have to stick with him through every single scene for 102 minutes.”
24/02/2012
Read Full Review
Time Magazine
Richard Corliss
“In a movie that is as grimy visually as it is gritty in its narrative, the camera spends lots of time studying the star’s craggy profile while Dave prowl-cars through the L.A. night. That’s one of the ways that Rampart declares itself an indie film rather than a mainstream movie. Granted, long takes of the leading man’s face are often a sign of directorial indulgence or vacuity. But Harrelson always rewards watching; he’s no less potent at rest than when he detonates in calculated rage.”
26/11/2011
Read Full Review
The New Statesman
Ryan Gilbey
“Sometimes you just end up without much in the way of tension, pace or narrative; sometimes a snazzy visual style isn't an expression of character or meaning - it's just a snazzy visual style. Even Woody could have told you, pulling pints behind the bar at Cheers.”
23/02/2012
Read Full Review
Empire Magazine
Dan Jolin
“It’s more a character study and a performance workshop, with Harrelson in every scene. And it’s an undeniably impressive performance; not so much a study of evil as of a weakling who confuses his anachronistic tendencies with strength, the bully who sees himself as victim, “the one cop who gets it”. In Harrelson’s hands Brown is a compelling mess of spilled testosterone.”
20/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Evening Standard
David Sexton
“Unfortunately, Ellroy disdains suspense, and by the end Rampart has become monotonous. Ellroy has claimed it shows "one very twisted man's redemption" - but he despises the very idea of such closure, having had none himself. ”
24/02/2012
Read Full Review
Total Film
Matt Glasby
“Sometimes it’s like watching the most extreme episode of COPS ever filmed. At others, it’s distracting – there are only so many two-shots where one character’s hair obscures the other’s face that you can handle.”
30/01/2012
Read Full Review
Screen
Howard Feinstein
“Among the film’s problems, [however,] are that their lines are often overstated and that they are always overshadowed by the ambience. Their efforts are undermined by Moverman’s contrived, extremely busy approach. Too many self-conscious set-ups and jump cuts, lighting either overly dim or brashly lit, and an unrelentingly magnified soundtrack spoil the party.”
11/11/2011
Read Full Review
The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“With several directions for the plot to take, we wait to see which one it will pursue. And, astonishingly, it chooses none of them. The film scuttles sideways, and in circles: but it refuses to go forward. It's as if Moverman and Ellroy have put the stew in the pot but won't turn on the oven.”
24/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Los Angeles Times
Betsy Sharkey
“Amid the debris, there are some gems to be found. Robin Wright as the wrung-out and strung-out defense attorney Dave meets in a bar, matches his cynicism and his sexual need beat for beat. Ned Beatty as the retired cop who's been covering for Dave for years, handles his own black soul with such evil grace it's chilling. But the film is really Harrelson's calling card — if there was any doubt — proof that the goofy bartender of "Cheers" has turned into a natural born killer on-screen.”
23/11/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Telegraph
Robbie Collin
“It’s hard to know what we’re supposed to extract, other than a vague sense that people who are inured to their own moral turpitude tend to come unstuck. Rampart might be a worthy attempt to probe the banality of evil, but after an hour and a half of its near-unvarying gruesomeness, it’s the film that starts to feel decidedly banal.”
23/02/2012
Read Full Review
The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
“Stylistically reminiscent of good film noir, but lacks the narrative to hold the attention. ”
24/02/2012
Read Full Review