“There is nothing in the world better than a good cop and nothing worse than a bad one.” (Anon.)

All the cops in “Dark Blue” are bad ones. Male or female, they are tainted, morally, legally, or both. Not one can be considered a good role model.

The film is set in Los Angeles in 1992, five days before the verdict in the Rodney King trial. Tension is an undercurrent.

Officer Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) says that if the four charged cops walk, “the city will burn.”

Officer Bobbie Keough (Scott Speedman) is a rookie assigned to Eldon. He is bright-eyed and eager to be accepted even if his assignment goes against his values. He is told to shoot a man he knows is innocent, but he can’t do it. Eldon does.

Slowly Bobbie becomes corrupted by a system more powerful than he is.

This film is typically Hollywood, with good action, photography, special effects and acting, but it is hollow at the core – action without theme. The cops are not wolves in sheep’s clothing; they are wolves in wolves’ clothing.