Narc
Release Date:
December 22, 2002
Limited release
Joe Carnahan (Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane) takes care of the writing and directing jobs for this police film. Quite a bit of star power has been brought aboard, including Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, and Busta Rhymes. Set in Detroit, Narc takes a look at the world of undercover police work.
The story is about an undercover narcotics officer named Nick Tellis (Patric), who has just come off 18 months of probation for a bust gone bad. He has requested a desk job, but when a fellow officer is murdered, his superiors call on his expertise to work the case. He’s teamed with Lt. Harry Oak (Liotta), the deceased officer’s partner.
With this new partnership, Tellis is dragged back into the seedy underworld that he has been trying to avoid. Director/writer Carnahan moves the story along by taking the viewer through various scenes, such as a memorable one with a stoner making a bong out of a shotgun barrel. He has also done an excellent job with character development. And that is why this police drama is getting a lot of Oscar buzz for a couple of its actors (Liotta and Patric). It has been highly rated on critics’ lists ever since its world premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Lions Gate Films was so high on this film that it picked it up during the script stage and Paramount wanted in on the action, so it’s taking care of marketing and distribution. (Marty Doskins/BOP)