Street KingsMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Street Kings."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 55 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    "Kings" covers familiar territory but does so with ruthless efficiency, intense performances and a densely packed plot designed to highlight the moral issues that most concern Ayer and Ellroy. Read full review

  • 80
    New York Daily News |

    After its clichd first scene - a solo LAPD officer battling a well-armed gang of thugs - Street Kings becomes an enjoyably tough, blood-splattered action drama that revolves around the one good cop at its center. Read full review

  • 80
    Variety |

    A brutal look at police corruption that allows director David Ayer and "L.A. Confidential" author James Ellroy to pool their deeply cynical insights. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    There's a lot to appreciate in Street Kings, a tight, propulsive action thriller, but there's one thing to marvel at, and that's James Ellroy's command of story. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    It's easy to laugh at Street Kings for its bigger than big emotions, its preposterously kinky narrative turns and overwrought jawing and yowling, but there's no doubt that it also keeps you watching, really watching, all the way to the end. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Street Kings is nonsense, and yet the crooked, racialized world underneath the soulless mayhem is pretty fascinating. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Every so often, Keanu Reeves' robo-voiced blankness serves him well, but when he has to play a pulpy, tormented demon-saint, scraping up insults and spitting them out like bullets, he's like the host of an infomercial doing an impersonation of a badass. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    The acting? Common and the Game score as baddies, but Hugh Laurie as an acid-tongued internal-affairs cop is disappointingly just House without the limp. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    All the movie's treacheries, deceptions and story twists are marred by our lack of innocence. We see the big picture way before the characters do, and that pushes us right out of the movie and back into our seats -- the last place we want to be. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Wastes a moderately intriguing premise by filling it with laughably clichd dialogue, one-dimensional characters and implausible turns of events. Read full review

View more reviews for Street Kings on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Grim, brutal bad-cop drama isn't meant for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this grim Keanu Reeves crime drama isn't for kids. The story (about corrupt cops) is brutal, the action is aggressive and bloody (leaving some characters with lacerations and bandages and others graphically dead), and the "moral" is familiar and subjective. Weapons include guns, knives, and cars; characters drink, smoke, and do drugs. There's some brief heavy breathing and kissing, as well as references to prostitution and rape (concerning young kidnapped girls). Language is incessant, with the favorite term being the standard cop-movie expletive, "f--k."
  • Families can talk about why revenge is such a popular/common plot device. What do characters typically hope to gain through revenge? Do they? Also, why do you think so many cop movies focus on police corruption? What elements tend to play into cops going "bad"? Do you think that's realistic?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Corrupt cops, cruel criminals, and frustrated women (all of whom are girlfriends and wives, not cops or criminals). Some iffy racial undertones.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: A man is killed while seated on the toilet (no explicit imagery except a bloody chest wound). The hero shoots multiple suspects in avenging sort of fury. A primary character escapes captors by crashing a car (loud, long screeching). Fights result in bloody, gashed faces. A primary character is shot and dies with bloody mouth and gurgling. Another primary character is shot point blank and dies. Rescued young girls were raped.
  • sex false3 Sex: Rescued kidnapped girls had been caged and tied; some discussion that they've been raped and used for prostitution. Flirting and passionate kissing between Tom and Grace (she closes a hospital curtain so they can embrace). Sexual slang includes "p---y," "prick," and "blow job."
  • language false5 Language: Incessant, tough-cop language, with very frequent uses of "f--k" (several with "mother-") and "s--t." Other profanity includes "hell," "damn," "ass" (several with "hole-"), and "bitch." Racist slang includes "dink," "short-eyed," and the "N" word.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Chips, sodas, and beer labels are glimpsed in a convenience store.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Cigarette smoking and drinking (beer, vodka, other liquor) by major and minor characters; marijuana use. Thematic focus on drug dealing, which involves several shots of piles of drugs (referred to as "dope"). References to Viagra and illegal drugs.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

3.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

At least Keanu isn't stinking up the place. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Street Kings Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook