Cop Land

This is the second film from director James Mangold who is currently receiving a fair amount of praise for his remake of 3:10 TO YUMA. He of course has already had a great deal of success with such films as GIRL INTERUPTED, IDENTITY and WALK THE LINE. Here in COP LAND we get a peek of a style in progress and what a peek it is. For starters, this is a Sylvester Stallone vehicle despite having a stellar cast of heavyweights. When I say heavyweights I'm talking about the likes of Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert Patrick and this is just the scratching the surface! However, what is of interest here is just how effective Stallone is in the lead...he is perfectly suited for the character he portrays and I might go as far as to say this is his finest work. I won`t give any plot details away as many have not seen this little gem and I`m sure it`s in regular late night rotation. The scripting is fair but it really comes down to the acting and direction. Now if somebody would only release the bits with Debbie Harry in it that were edited out at the last minute!