Cop Car has a high concept that grabbed me from the moment I read the synopsis. Two kids steal a cop car and Kevin Bacon is the cop? Sold. There is a version of this movie that’s wacky shenanigans with Bacon chasing after them, pratfalling and screaming, “Stop, you kids!” But this is not that movie. This is the version where Bacon is a dirty cop who has to get his car back to cover up his crimes.
I actually ran into Bacon briefly at the Television Critics Association press tour last week where he was representing “The Following.” I told him I was excited to see Cop Car and he described it as Stand By Me meets No Country for Old Men. I know exactly what he was talking about now, because Cop Car unfolds in mostly silent visual action. You can totally understand what everyone is up to without dialogue having to explain it all, like Josh Brolin stashing his money in the motel vents.
Sheriff Kretzer (Bacon) drags some bodies from the trunk of his car, and notices a shoe came off. We know that’s incriminating evidence, and there’s a lot of backtracking for him to do. Then when he returns to his car and it’s missing, Bacon tells us everything in just a look.
No Country for Old Men is a good reference but there’s a lot of Leone also. It’s a lot of long buildup to violent payoffs. It is set in a wide open road, the equivalent of a modern day western frontier. Director Jon Watts gets some satisfyingly long takes out of his young actors, and then lets Bacon just go.
Cop Car never goes totally crazy, but it sure builds. Watching the kids play with guns is always uncomfortable. It’s honest though. If kids did this, it would feel fake if they didn’t play with the dangerous toys. I feel the film is responsible about it, but rightfully pushes our buttons whenever the guns are out.
I remember movies like Big Shots and Josh and S.A.M. that promised two young buddies on a road trip adventure away from their parents. Both of those films were falsely advertised to kids, but neither worked on a savvy audience, so by now you may not even remember them. Cop Car is the movie Big Shots and Josh and S.A.M. promised to be.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
