MovieChat Forums > Narc (2003) Discussion > Watched NARC for the 1st time last night...

Watched NARC for the 1st time last night....

posted 14 years ago by McBaine
14 replies | jump to latest

Was on Film4 (in the UK) last night - have to admit, this is one of THE best gritty cop dramas I have seen in a long, long time.

A friend recommended it to me, and told me about the production history of the film (lack of budget, Tom Cruise getting involved as Executive Producer etc.), so I thought I'd check it out - As a fan of gritty police-themed dramas, I was not disappointed!

Being a huge fan of "The Wire", I could see certain similarities - the bleakness of the enviroment in which the characters find themselves (in Narc, Detroit, and in The Wire, Baltimore), the politics which can ultimately determine the course/outcome of police investigations, and the fact that sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reasons (in Narc, Henry was ultimately trying to help Calvess's wife & children, whilst one example of many from The Wire would be in Season 5, where McNulty fabricates the serial killer with the ultimate aim of trying to trap Snoop & Chris from Marlo Stansfield's crew).

I also have to agree with an earlier post about whether Liotta and Patric have ever been better - it's a toss up between Narc & Goodfellas for Liotta as to which one he is best in (he was also very good in Copland, I might add), but I think this is one of the best, if not the best, performance I have seen from Patric.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts with you guys! Anyone else recently seen Narc for the fist time? How did you rate it?

[–] bbmylsgo 14 years ago

Just saw it myself for the first time (haven't yet watched the commentary version on DVD) and found myself really bugged by what I see as a huge gaping hole in the plot line : the Lt. wanted to pin it on the bad guys to preserve the reputation of his partner who was a suicide. WHY did he not accept the fact that the commissioner wanted to close the case and pin it on the dead junkie? WHY did he push it? It makes no sense to me. Only he knew about the two dealers yet surely he knew they wouldn't confesss to something they didn't do. HOW did he think he was going to accomplish that, with the presence of the narc no less?
No, I didn't like it. I felt the ending showed the narc having some type of remorse for killing the Lt when the Lt was a murderous thug who was about to kill the two perps. He deserved to die. Sorry the widow will get shafted, but that's life. Nah, didn't like the story at all because of that glaring nonsensical decision. Would appreciate someone setting me straight if I'm missing the logic somewhere.

[–] chris-murray3 14 years ago

I think the reason why was because Oaks wanted revenge for his dead partner. They sold the drugs to his junkie partner, which lead him to get into that state, so he certainly blamed them for it. That's also why he seems to take it out on them during the interrogation too, he feels it's their fault. In a certain sense, it is, but it's not as well at the same time...

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] bbgunpop 14 years ago

He didnt deserve to die. How was he a murderous thug? I didnt see him kill anyone. So what if he was prepared to kill busta rhymes and the other guy, but from what I saw he wasnt gonna kill them. He beat on them thats all and was gonna pin it on them.

As for the film, it was ok but not entertaining. It was a chore to watch at times. The dialogue was hard to follow half the time, too fast. Plenty of things I just didnt get, what was that junkie doing at the beginning injecting people with syringes? What happened to the guy that got injected? Why was the main character such a bad shot? Why does he turn his back to oaks when he thinks it was him that killed callvers or whatever he was called?.

Are undercover officers meant to take the drugs? and then become addicted? And why didnt they just pin it on the white guy they shoot in his apartment? I mean oaks should of supported that, and if he wanted vengeance so bad for the two black dealers then he could of killed them any time he wanted.

There was more I didnt get aswell. Anyway, the movie is watchable, but to say that it is better than training day is crazy. Training day is one of the best movies of all time. I think people say narc is better just because training day became mainstream. I wouldnt say it was mainstream, I would say it was popular for good reason. Just because Dr.Dre and Snoop dogg are in training day doesnt make it a bad movie. Hell busta rhymes is in narc.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 14 years ago

"As for the film, it was ok but not entertaining. It was a chore to watch at times. "
-Agree with this entirely. Sometimes I was engrossed in the mystery, sometimes I found myself just wanting to turn it off. The dialogue wasn't too fast, it just wasn't well written enough...

"Did you mean for all those words to come out like that or did they just fall out randomly?"-H.H.

[–] SausagePourVous 13 years ago

Oak DID kill someone in the movie,that punk who sniffed glue and had the badge of a dead officer....but he did that after Tellis got shot.So that Tellis killed Oaks didn´t only feel morally wrong but also slightly forced scriptwise....was that the only way we were allowed to find out,Oak HAD TO die?

Oak didn´t wanna pin on the guy he killed because it was personal.He wanted to punish the "people who made Mike a jumkie",he was to personally involved to be a good cop.I mean,he did all this mostly for Calvesses wife,the girl he saved.So had he left it at that,she would´ve gotten her money but his personal vendetta towards the guys who supplied Calvess with drugs cost him and the woman everything cause I doubt Tellis would pin it on either the two dudes or Oak. Although that would have been a nice touch,so everybody didn´t die in vain.If Oaks last words were "Pin it on me"....that would be a better ending.
So that Oak told the truth that cost the girl the 100,000 a cop gets when he´s killed in action...makes no sense.

Narcs,undercovercops,to get credibility and get closer to the people they´re going after....yes,they probably have to get high once or twice infront of other junkies.You could see Tellis flashbacks indicated that.

After rewatching Narc just now I can say that it´s not as good as Training day but...it comes pretty close.One thing is guaranteed,Liotta will NEVER get an Oscarnomination,unfortunately.Phoenix critcs and the independent spirit awards were the only ones who nominated him and...he will never be better then here.

The two movies have about the same score here on IMDB and I think Narc is overlooked,most people haven´t seen it.

Mauro Fiores cinematography,Denzels and Hawkes performances are what makes Training day so great,although the ending is horrible,not believable,much worse then this one.And the presence of Dr.Dre,Snoop and Macy Gray keeps reminding you it´s a movie..Narc is grittier and more realistic,Training Day is beautiful and entertaining and tense as hell....Training Day 9/10,Narc 8.5/10

[–] Xcalat3 14 years ago

GREAT MOVIE!!!

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] jmac-20 13 years ago

It's pretty obvious (to me) why he didn't want the case 'closed' and pinned on the junkie. If, down the road, either of the two dealers got busted on something else, they could easily go tot he papers, or threaten to, and use what they knew (or what they thought they knew - they didn't see Oaks shoot Calvess, they only thought that is what happened, but it would have been a little more convincing, since it brought up Oaks' presence when Calvess suicided). That would make big news, and a district attorney might trade that information for dropping charges against the dealers, and that would then put Calvess' wife and child without a pension for their husband/father being killed in the line of duty, and leave them out on the street, so to speak.

So he had to 'get' to them, and either discredit them, or get them to confess, whatever, rather than leave them in the wind. It's also possible they might have gone to the police, without being charged and offered up what they knew, or thought they knew, just to see Oaks put in jail, as that would have some real currency for anyone on the other side of the law to see a police officer jailed.

And Oaks would have to do this without showing his hand (to use a poker expression) - that he knew who they were after, or suspected them. If you watch it again, you'll note subtle (or not so subtle) stuff coming from Oaks where he didn't think a particular 'lead' was legitimate in the first place (I think the one coming from the guy who set his girlfriend's hair on fire), which falls into place in hindsight. Also his anger at the widow being questioned again. No doubt he didn't want to put her through it again, but also he would have been concerned that she might drop hints or even have known her husband had become and addict.

[–] ratypa 13 years ago

Very good movie.

I especially liked the different styles of filming in different scenes.There
were fast cuts,freehand and some very cool long shots. I think the scene in which
both cops are sitting in the car and Oaks was telling about his wife...
magnificent.The camera slowly revolves round the car,and you're looking at
the two characters from outside,through reflections - as if a subtle message
was given that everything you see is just the surface.

I just hate the standard Hollywood cop movie style of cutting very fast cuts throughout a movie,with just 2 secs between cuts.Narc was something different.

And yes, definitely better than Training Day. Way more realistic.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] brmuffin 13 years ago

I have to agree that this movie was arguably Ray and Jason's best work...great film on such a small budget.

[–] Zvoni 12 years ago

This is a gritty picture, it really has spirits of 70s cop dramas and little bit of Se7en in it. There sure is stuff at plot to be questioned, but great lead actors make this thing really work. And great intensity in this one.

Narc is a close to be a modern masterpiece. One of the better cop-dramas done in 2000+ for sure.

Carnahans second film Smokin Aces is not close to this, it's just typical modern ADHD-actioner filled with avid-farts.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Hey_Sweden 12 years ago

I watched it for the first time tonight. I was quite impressed with its tough, no nonsense tone and loved the performances of Patric, Chi McBride, and especially Liotta. I gave it seven out of 10.

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