Entertainment
Gerard Butler's R-Rated Action Thriller On Netflix Is A Brutal Lockdown Showdown
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Imagine getting yourself into so much trouble that you decide the best thing to do for your personal safety is to stage a fight with a cop so they arrest you. This solution, as seen in 2021’s Copshop, may seem simple enough because there’s no safer place than a holding cell hidden behind a bulletproof door. The problem is that one of the men who has a bounty on you knows exactly where you’re hiding, so he stages a drunk driving accident with the intention of getting booked and transported to the cell across from the one you’re currently hiding out in until things blow over.
Even worse, there’s yet another psychopath who’s after both of you and has absolutely no qualms about mowing down an entire police station with machine guns for the love of the game. He’s also friendly with a couple of corrupt officers on the inside, meaning you’re all pretty much dead meat because the only person on duty at this late hour is a rookie cop who’s not incompetent by any stretch of the imagination, but severely outnumbered.
Here’s the thing about Copshop, as well as a bunch of other neo noir crime thrillers that fall in this wheelhouse. They’re billed as action films, mystery films, and suspense films, but they’re never called comedies despite the fact that they’re way more fun than they have any right to be. Watching Copshop is such a treat because it plays things straight, while also maintaining a wicked sense of humor that keeps the entire experience infinitely rewatchable.
Location, Location, Location
Copshop first introduces us to a fixer on the run named Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo). Teddy takes on a job that gets him in trouble with some very dangerous people in high places, resulting in his desperate attempt to lay low until things blow over. His plan is simple. Punch rookie cop Val Young (Alexis Louder) in the face in front of witnesses so he gets dragged to the precinct and processed. He does exactly that and thinks he’s safe for a while, but matters get complicated when one of the hitmen hired to ice him, Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler), catches wise to this plan and tracks him down.
Bob Viddick intentionally gets himself arrested by pretending to drive drunk and crashing into a routine traffic stop in the area, knowing he’ll be brought to the same jail. Unaware of the larger scheme at play, Val throws the hitman into the holding cell across from Teddy, and the two immediately start exchanging threatening words once they’re left alone.
Meanwhile, Officer Huber (Ryan O’Nan) starts snooping around the evidence locker because he’s been skimming drugs from inventory, which has rightfully made Sergeant Duane Mitchell (Chad Coleman) suspicious of his extracurricular activities.
To make matters infinitely worse, there’s yet another dangerous man named Tony Lamb (Toby Huss) who knows exactly where both Murretto and Viddick are located, and he just so happens to be working with Officer Huber. Tony Lamb is a picture-perfect psychopath who laughs his way through the precinct while pumping the place full of lead. A rival hitman to Viddick, the only thing Lamb cares about is stealing the job out from under him and cashing in on the bounty. As chaos unfolds inside the police station, Val realizes she’s alone in her attempts to neutralize the situation and will have to take matters into her own hands.
Absolute Bedlam Behind Bulletproof Glass
The story told in Copshop is a fairly simple one, but it’s executed flawlessly. The dynamic between a rookie cop with a home team advantage and the people who have infiltrated her station to play their war games makes for some supremely tense moments once everybody’s motives become clear. Val, who clearly has combat experience despite being relatively new to the force, isn’t a damsel in distress, but she’s undeniably outnumbered.
Tony Lamb unloads ammo on anybody who crosses his path, seemingly on impulse, and you can tell he’s the scariest guy in the room based entirely on how much fun he’s having. Viddick and Murretto are a bit more complicated because they’re both trying to win Val’s trust in order to gain the upper hand. The problem for them is that they got themselves arrested under false pretenses, meaning they’re professional liars by default.
Good, Violent Fun
Copshop, while not necessarily offering anything new to this locked down brand of neo noir crime thrillers, succeeds because everybody brings their A game. There’s always humor behind the menace, especially from Toby Huss, who’s having just a little too much fun portraying Tony Lamb with sadistic glee. The entire premise is a spectacle because there’s no better place to stage a shootout than a building with a literal armory on site, and Copshop takes full advantage of its setting.
Part of the fun of watching Copshop comes from knowing that every single antagonist is a terrible person. Val is forced to decide which of these men she can work with if she wants to make it out of the station alive, and the unfortunate reality is that she probably shouldn’t trust any of them. If you find yourself wondering how this is all going to play out and could use a bit of levity to carry you through an otherwise tense, action-packed thriller, you can stream Copshop on Netflix as of this writing.