Worst dialogue in ages - Street Kings (2008) Discussion

[–] mrliteral 16 years ago

I felt the movie wasn't so bad, aside from being misogynist & predictable. At least the dialogue was interesting and served the story; where else have you heard it?

http://moviesonthemind.blogspot.com/

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[–] rivaor 15 years ago

What was misogynist about it?, that's the last thing i would have thought about it.

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[–] ubcool 15 years ago

yeah i agree the very cheesy and cliched.

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[–] jallport1990 15 years ago

mysogynistic is right...just look who wrote the movie...all his works are based on the ideals of cliche cop talk and mysogynistic cop brotherhood.

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[–] stephan-brown 15 years ago

Cliches, yes!

In the beginning Ludlow says to Washington: "What happened to us? We used to be bros!" (Or something like that.) Truly a very alarming scene for the rest of the film.

And when they enter Fremont and Coates's house, Ludlow sees all the blood on the walls and says: "Someone had a party here!" (Again, something like that.) Nerdy!

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[–] sljohnson12 15 years ago

My favorite lines in the movie were near the end - (Reeves) "what happened to just locking up bad people?" (Whitaker) "We're all bad"

Aside from this, the dialogue is what it is for what it is supposed to be. I never detected any misogynistic overtones. If anything, there was more racism present in the beginning. What evidence does one have exactly for this supposed misogyny?

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[–] hecantune 15 years ago

Firstly, I like Street Kings but it does have some hilariously cheap dialogue.
My favorite is the scene between Ludlow and his girlfriend; after Washington's death.

Ludlow: He was my partner. We were black and white in a black and white.

--------------------------------------------
Same scene:

Ludlow: I was gonna knock him out and he thought I was gonna kill him...prick
Grace: Don't turn your back on him. Good can come from bad.
Ludlow: In my world...the real world...(drumroll please) bad breeds more bad.

Back off! ...Way off!

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[–] subase 15 years ago

Dialogue isn't cliche when its consistently so. So I reckon the dialogue was good.

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[–] fistfullofpennys 15 years ago

No man I liked the dialogue especially ine opining scene with Keanu Reaves the Korean gangsters, really funny...

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[–] thorabart 15 years ago

i agree the dialogue was terrible

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[–] gotmyorangecrush 15 years ago

Actually the dialogue is spot on for this movie. Is it cliched, maybe but that doesn't make it any less realistic. My brother is an LAPD narcotics officer and I actually saw this movie with him when I was visiting him out in LA and he actually commented about how great the dialogue was.

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[–] taifunu 15 years ago

Some challenge the idea that Ellroy's writing, whether novels or scripts, is tough to translate to the big screen. "He's strong on character, strong with dialogue and strong with plot," director Ayer of "Street Kings" said of the three keys to making a movie work. (Ellroy shares a screenplay credit on "Kings" with Kurt Wimmer and Jamie Moss.)

The essence of Ellroy's writing, to Ayer, is "his incredible empathy for the cop as a broken man: He realizes that policing takes a psychic toll. He sees that they're a subculture apart; he understands their tribal rituals."

Ayer, who wrote the screenplay for "Dark Blue," thinks Ellroy's dialogue is a plus, not a minus, and resembles the way cops really talk. "I worked hard to preserve that element," he said. "Police vernacular is a little anachronistic, there's something old-school about it. It sounds heightened to the layman, but if you run it by a cop they'll say, 'That's it.' Everything becomes shorthand for a cop."

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/06/entertainment/ca-ellroy6

Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.

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