Film Review: Bad Lieutenant

Summary:

Bad Lieutenant is a good thriller, depicting a man who has sunk very deeply into corruption, to the detriment of his duty as an enforcer of the law.

More DetailsAbout Bad Lieutenant (1992)He has survived on the streets for twenty years. He’s a gambler…a thief…a killer and a cop. Now’s he’s investigating the most shocking case of his life, and as he moves closer to the truth, his self-destructive past is closing in. Harvey Keitel gives a searing performance as an out-of-control police detective on a collision course with disaster in director Abel Ferrara’s brilliant and deeply disturbing crime drama.

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Leonard L. Thomas, Robin Burrows

Directed by: Abel Ferrara

Runtime: 96 minutes

Studio: Lions Gate

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Review: Bad Lieutenant 

Abel Ferrara’s film depicts the severely corrupt Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel) who is from a Catholic family, in the police force but is completely out of control. The Lieutenant visits crime scenes and does his job but in between the work he is taking drugs, drinking and having sex with prostitutes. His corruption extends to pilfering drugs from crime scenes, chasing dealers into their apartments and doing business with them and turning a blind eye to many obvious crimes before him. When a nun (Frankie Thorn) is brutally raped in a church, the Lieutenant is affected by her plight and although he continues to spiral out of control he begins to steer towards the road to redemption.

The Lieutenant is a very unlikable character. He has no shame in his incessant corruption and between the crime scenes he is satisfying and abusing his body in equal measure. He also gets deeper into debt by betting on a series of games between the Mets and the Dodgers. Each time he is convinced the Dodgers cannot lose but the Mets come roaring back, plunging the Lieutenant further into debt. As the film reaches a conclusion the Lieutenant continues to be drawn to the case of the nun who shows no animosity towards her attackers and keeps her faith in God. Finally, the chance to bring the two rapists to justice comes along and the Lieutenant is the man who has the chance to do something right for a change.

I found Bad Lieutenant to be a somewhat seesaw experience. At times I was quite involved in the storyline, other times I found myself losing interest. Keitel’s is a commanding lead performance, revealing the many dark sides of the Lieutenant and how he abuses his position to satisfy his own needs. His version of redemption may satisfy some people but certainly not all.

Bad Lieutenant is a good thriller, depicting a man who has sunk very deeply into corruption, to the detriment of his duty as an enforcer of the law. The attack on the nun becomes a key factor in him trying to head down a straight path in life but there are no miracle cures here for a man who is near lost to all that know him.

Verdict: 3/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)