Cop Land

Directed by James Mangold, Cop Land follows the sheriff (Sylvester Stallone’s Freddy Heflin) of a small New Jersey town as he becomes embroiled in a complicated scheme involving several corrupt police officers. There’s little doubt that Cop Land, written by Mangold, fares best in its engaging and sporadically riveting opening half hour, as the movie boasts an intriguing storyline that’s heightened by the superb efforts of Stallone and his undeniably impressive roster of talented costars – with folks like Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, and Robert De Niro turning in scene-stealing work that elevates the proceedings on an appreciatively regular basis. And although the picture has been littered with spellbinding sequences and interludes, including an early (and violent) traffic confrontation between a cop (Michael Rapaport’s Murray Babitch) and two black individuals, Cop Land progresses into an increasingly convoluted midsection that results in several narrative lulls and ensures that the picture becomes more and more difficult to comfortably follow – with the ensuing lack of forward momentum ensuring that the film is, beyond a certain point, only really effective in fits and starts. The final result is an endeavor that generally feels as though it should be far more absorbing and engrossing than it actually is, which is a shame, ultimately, given that Cop Land does possess a whole raft of agreeable elements (including a seriously electrifying final action sequence).

**1/2 out of ****