<p> With a face like a blunt instrument and eyes sharper than bullets, Officer Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) glares at the slums of LA through the window of his patrol car. The time is 1999, just a few years after Rodney King, but Brown is unrepentant about the LAPD's old ways. “This used to be a glorious soldiers' department,” he declares bitterly. And it seems as if he's willing to go down fighting the bad guys in his own private war. </p> <p>Co-written by James Elroy (<em>L.A. Confidential</em>) and directed by Oren Moverman (<em>The Messenger</em>), <em>Rampart </em>is a neo-noir that escapes that genre's deep rut of clichés through a closely observed study of characters and milieu. Harrelson is marvelous as the psychologically damaged, misanthropic Brown, a man who can stare down a black officer and say: “I am not a racist. Fact is I hate all people, equally.” The measure of sympathy we may have for Brown, who spends his life clamping down on rapists and crank dealers, slowly evaporates into startled fascination. He descends into deepening madness as Elroy's study in power and frustration, corruption and lies, gradually unfolds. </p> <p> <em>Rampart's </em>superb cast includes Cynthia Nixon and Anne Heche as Brown's two ex-wives, sisters, with whom he still lives; Ned Beatty as a corrupt retired cop; Robin Wright as Brown's sex interest and sometime confidant; and Sigourney Weaver and Steve Buscemi from the DA's office. Dave Brown is Dirty Harry without the Romantic glow of heroism. </p> <p>Opens March 16 at AMC Mayfair, Ridge Cinema, Northtown Cinema, South Shore Cinema and Menomonee Falls Cinema. </p>
