A Police Story
Philip Lamonaco (Dan Lauria - In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco) is a state policeman and he is good at his job, spotting suspicious vehicles thanks to years of practice. But his skill for spotting the dodgy leads him in to trouble when he pulls over a car belonging to terrorists who end up gunning him down. Lamonaco's best friend detective Mike Garret (Nicholas Turturro - Freefall: Flight 174) vows to catch the men who did it. It leads him to working with the FBI and agent Gabriel Valentino (Adam Arkin - Hitch) which is easier said than done as they don't get on.
I'm not sure how many "In the Line of Duty" movies there are but I have watched and reviewed quite a few and generally they have been good, either entertaining or an interesting dramatization of a true story. Unfortunately whilst "In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice" is a solid movie it is also an ordinary one and rather than feeling like a dramatization of a true story comes across like a generic cop movie. That comes more from the basic storyline of a cop going after the bad guys who killed his friend because it is a storyline which has been done numerous times.
But the familiarity of the basic storyline is not the only problem with "In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice" as the various characters feel more like generic cop movie cliches rather than real people. As such Garret is a snappy detective who won't stop whilst Valentino is an arrogant FBI agent who looks down on the cops. It is all too typical and whilst we have some recognizable actors such as Adam Arkin, Melissa Leo and Miguel Ferrer their performances are just typical cop movie solid rather than memorable.
Don't get me wrong as "In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice" is still entertaining and the antagonistic banter between Turturro and Arkin is entertaining but it is nothing which you won't have seen before. It is the same with the terrorists as they are entertaining with various conflicts between them especially as one is trigger happy but it is just regular stuff.
What this all boils down to is that "In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice" is a solid cop movie but also a generic one with its tale of a cop and an FBI agent antagonistically working together to catch a group of terrorists who shot a state trooper. Sadly it means that whilst based on a true story "In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice" ends up coming across as just a generic cop movie.
