Two Kids Take a Traumatic Joy Ride in COP CAR - Sundance 2015 Review
Movies starring children are often a recipe for disaster, which was why I was hesitant to see Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon. But hearing Bacon was in this movie enticed me to see it, as Bacon always does. It was a fantastic movie that didn't try to portray kids as the adorable charm machines that Hollywood wants them to be, but rather as real little kids doing kid things.
Hays Wellford and James Freedson-Jackson star as the two 10-year-old protagonists of this film who find a seemingly abandoned cop car in the nearby forest with the keys inside and claim it as their own. When the crooked sheriff, played by Bacon, returns to find his car missing, he's determined to find it and get it back. For those thinking that the movie will be something akin to a kid friendly Ferris Bueller tale, with hijinks at every turn with Bacon at some point being doused with water with a grumpy face, you're sorely mistaken. Bacon's Sheriff is a killer, and the car the kids have taken has a body in the trunk. This movie, although comical and nostalgic at times, is definitely a thrill ride and director Jon Watts does not handle the subject matter entirely with kid gloves.
Cop Car takes a seemingly simple concept and make it enthralling. Without a whole lot of blood, gore, or jump scares, it manages to make you scared and tense and still get a laugh in every now and then. It builds the intensity well too, starting with two kids just walking in a field talking about kid stuff, and ending with a deadly standoff between two of the film's antagonists and with the kids in the middle.
The dialogue is fantastic. All the lines the kids have are honest, and things I can remember myself saying as a kid. It really hits nostalgia points and makes me realize that kids can actually be great in movies when they are cast to play kids, and not sarcastic mini-adults. I actually have to hand it to the young actors - I enjoyed them both, and felt their acting was strong and sincere (a compliment I rarely give to child actors). Their innocence and trust of others while at the same time thinking they are so hardcore because they are running away and using swear words balance out the characters so well, you care deeply for them. It makes each moment they get further down the rabbit hole all the more scary.
Bacon, of course, doesn't disappoint either. For a large part of the film he doesn't even say anything, but you see it all in his actions and facial expressions. You see his desperation and frustration without him saying things out loud like "oh no!" or "what will I do?" Less truly is more in his performance, and the thought the character goes through to ensure no one finds out about his car being taken is equally as brilliant. The actor manages to look desperate and reassuring at the same time in multiple parts of the film, which only shows why I think he is one of the greatest actors of our generation.
With fantastic cinematography, nostalgic dialogue, and thrilling edge-of-your-seat moments, this movie certainly merits a watch. It will make you laugh, reminisce, and clench every muscle of your body in suspense. If nothing else, see it for Kevin Bacon. Bacon makes everything better.