Review - Matt Mungle
**in theaters and on VOD on August 14th*
Synopsis: When two rebellious young boys stumble across an abandoned cop car hidden in a secluded glade they decide to take it for a joyride. When the small town sheriff (Kevin Bacon) goes looking for his missing car, the boys find themselves in the center of a deadly game of cat and mouse and the only way out is to go as fast as their cop car can take them.
Review: COP CAR is an intense roller coaster ride full of explosive emotion. When Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford), two mischievous adolescent young boys, steal a cop car they soon realize that not everything is easily undone and find themselves entangled in a nasty situation with a not so forgiving Sheriff (Kevin Bacon).
This is a simply executed film with climactic results. It doesn't try and wow the audience with unwanted clutter or confuse the issue with too many sub plots. What COP CAR does is fuse the often overlooked acting brilliance of Kevin Bacon with the well written story of two young boys on a joy ride. Travis and his pal aren't bad kids. Maybe a little misguided but little else. Yet there random act has led them to a horrific outcome. That tension and understanding is the heartbeat of the movie. These kids are in trouble and no one is going to help them.
The fact that this takes place out in the middle of "nowhere USA" helps to encapsulate the film. If you have ever driven the back roads of an open, deserted country highway you know it is a landscape of desolation. It allows the story to expand and contrast without any interference. There is no accountability for any one's actions. Life just simply moves forward without the care and paranoia that might otherwise spoil the outcome in a bustling surrounding.
Jackson and Wellford are really quite fantastic in this very adult drama. They convey not only the innocent nature of young boys exploring new things but when situations go bad they deliver the raw, scared emotion that you would expect. They obviously have little in the way of a solid home structure. These are lads left up to their own devices. The script is written in such a way that their dialogue and conversation is believable and appropriate for their age and upbringing.
COP CAR is rated R for language, violence and brief drug use. It is a very violent and adult film. There are moments that you will find you are tensed up and on edge. The story sucks you in and keeps you riveted until the end. I give it 3.75 out of 5 badges. Perfectly directed, expertly acted, and a textbook thriller.
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