''Cop Car'' is a 2015 American
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
co-written and directed by
Jon Watts
Jonathan Watts (born June 28, 1981) is an American filmmaker. His credits include directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films '' Spider-Man: Homecoming'', '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'', and '' Spider-Man: No Way Home''. He was ...
and starring
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...
,
Shea Whigham
Franklin Shea Whigham Jr. (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also appeared in the first season of ''True Detective'' and the third season of ' ...
,
Camryn Manheim
Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim (born March 8, 1961) is an American actress known for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's ''The Practice'', Delia Banks on CBS's '' Ghost Whisperer'', Gladys Presley in the 2005 miniseries ''Elvis'', and ...
, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford. The film follows two young boys and
juvenile delinquents
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
who come across and hijack the abandoned
police car
A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...
of a corrupt sheriff. It premiered at the
2015 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 7, 2015 by
Focus World
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company
Distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or bu ...
. The film received mainly positive reviews from critics but was commercially unsuccessful, earning $143,658 on a $5 million budget.
Plot
Corrupt sheriff Kretzer removes his uniform's shirt and leaves his handgun in the back seat of his police car. He removes a body from his car's trunk, drags and drops it in a covered pit in the woods, and pours a bag of
quicklime
Calcium oxide (CaO), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term "''lime''" connotes calcium-containing inorganic ma ...
on it. Meanwhile, two young runaways and
juvenile delinquents
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
, Travis and Harrison, come across Kretzer's cop car. Believing it to be abandoned, they hijack the vehicle and go on a
joyride. Upon finding his car gone, Kretzer calls his dispatcher Mary Allen to tell her that his radio is down so he should be contacted through phone. Meanwhile, the boys speed down the wrong lane, narrowly missing a woman driving in the oncoming lane.
At a trailer park, Kretzer steals a car, but, after avoiding arrest, he abandons it, replacing it with his own pickup truck when he arrives home. Allen informs him of a report of a stolen sheriff's car driven by two boys under age 10. He orders her to ignore the report and has her tell his deputies to switch their radios to a different channel, before he uses the regular channel to call the boys to no avail.
Travis and Harrison are playing with Kretzer's weapons, but they hear thumping from the car's trunk and open it to see a bloodied man, restrained like the man Kretzer earlier disposed. He manages to convince the boys to free him after informing them about Kretzer being the "bad guy." At home, Kretzer dumps bags of
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
into his toilet and packs a bag of cash. He hears Harrison on his truck's radio and picks up the call, where Harrison claims to have kept the car safe and tells him their location.
The man from the trunk had betrayed the boys and forced Harrison at gunpoint to tell Kretzer their location so he can enact revenge. He and his brother, the dead body from earlier, were part of a drug deal with Kretzer gone wrong. Locking them in the car's backseat, he threatens the boys' families and warns them not to tell Kretzer where he is hiding before taking cover near a windmill. Kretzer arrives and sees the open front door of the cop car, and takes cover behind the car after sensing that something is amiss.
The woman whose car the boys almost hit earlier, Bev, shows up and walks towards the car, screaming at the boys. She sees Kretzer, who claims to be injured, and he asks her to look for his keys in the direction where he suspects the man is hiding. Bev spots the man from the trunk and gives away his location before she is shot and killed by the man, prompting a gunfight with him and Kretzer. Kretzer manages to kill the man but is severely wounded in the process.
The boys escape the car by shooting out the window, but Travis is hit by one of the ricochets from their escape attempt. Harrison takes the cop car and drives down to get help for Travis, but Kretzer recovers and follows them in his truck while taunting them through the radio. With night falling and not knowing how to turn on the vehicle's headlights, Harrison ignores Kretzer and continues to speed down the road. As Kretzer tries to run them off the road, Harrison sees a cow and avoids it, but Kretzer crashes into it. Harrison continues onward before finally seeing the town lights on the horizon. Allen attempts to contact Kretzer over the radio, which Harrison picks up as he speeds towards town.
Cast
Release
The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 24, 2015. The film was released in theaters on August 7, 2015 by
Focus World
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company
Distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or bu ...
, which acquired distribution rights to the film on January 28, 2015.
Reception
Critical response
''Cop Car'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Cop Car'' boasts a terrific premise and a grimly gripping opening act -- and for some viewers, that will be enough to compensate for the movie's uneven denouement." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Michael O'Sullivan of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, saying, "''Cop Car'' builds up a nice, suspenseful head of steam, mixing dark comedy and true creepiness in such a way that one mood never overwhelms the other." Bill Goodykoontz of ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
'' gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying, "Bacon can play just about anything, and he's having a good time here as a guy not quite smart enough to keep himself out of trouble, but wily enough to try to dig himself out of it. It's fun to watch." Bruce Demara of the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "Anchored by solid performances and a taut script, ''Cop Car'' is a tension-filled thrill ride." Brian Moylan of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the film four out of five stars, saying, "The movie culminates in a tense, protracted standoff that keeps the audience on edge for way longer than is comfortable. I mean that as a compliment." Todd McCarthy of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying, "A potentially fun premise soon turns into no fun at all in ''Cop Car'', a seriously imagination-challenged low-end action thriller."
Peter Debruge of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a positive review, saying, "Watts demonstrates masterful control, pushing right up against the limits of what we can take (even non-parents will be rattled watching the boys mishandling loaded weapons), and yet, at every turn, the screenplay falls short of the picture's full potential, missing opportunities that could have made this a classic."
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Jon Watts
2015 black comedy films
2010s comedy thriller films
2015 crime thriller films
2010s road movies
2015 films
American black comedy films
American comedy thriller films
American crime comedy films
American crime thriller films
American neo-noir films
American road movies
2010s English-language films
Films about children
Films about police officers
Films directed by Jon Watts
Films set in Colorado
Films shot in Colorado
Films with screenplays by Christopher Ford (screenwriter)
Focus Features films
2015 independent films
2010s American films