Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
The story follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.
Rampart is carried almost entirely by Woody Harrelson's ferocious, committed performance as the unredeemable Dave Brown, which is genuinely exceptional and elevates material that might otherwise feel routine. The plot is thin and episodic, cycling through corruption, moral degradation, and family dysfunction without strong narrative propulsion or payoff. The ending is notably unsatisfying in a way that feels less like deliberate ambiguity and more like an incomplete arc. Cinematography by Yaron Orbach has some gritty, handheld energy appropriate to the LAPD setting but rarely transcends its functional role. Novelty is limited — the corrupt cop character study is well-trodden ground (especially post-Training Day), and while Harrelson's specific portrayal has its own flavor, the film's structure and themes are familiar.