Colors

Directed by Dennis Hopper, Colors follows an experienced cop (Robert Duvall’s Bob Hodges) as he shows his new, inexperienced partner (Sean Penn’s Danny McGavin) the ropes within Los Angeles’ gang-infested neighborhoods. Filmmaker Hopper, working from Michael Schiffer’s screenplay, delivers a hit-and-miss endeavor that admittedly does benefit from its appealingly gritty atmosphere and proliferation of attention-grabbing performances, and it’s clear, too, that the inclusion of a few impressively electrifying sequences goes a long way towards periodically elevating one’s less-than-rapt interest – with this especially true of a fairly enthralling mid-movie chase sequence that ultimately leads into an exciting kitchen-set brawl. There’s little doubt, however, that Colors‘ episodic structure, coupled with a palpably overlong running time, prevents it from becoming the consistently engrossing piece of work that Hopper has surely intended, although it’s hard to deny that the movie’s closing stretch boasts a far more captivating feel than one might’ve anticipated – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as an uneven yet sporadically rewarding cop drama that often packs a visceral punch.

**1/2 out of ****