FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Mr-Fusion As usual, Woody Harrelson rules, even with such a laundry list of supporting names. Ideally, this is a character study - the slow disintegration of a fascist street cop, one with no cards left to play - and you can see the inner turmoil move towards utter despair in Harrelson's mien. It's an impressive performance.I guess the root of my disappointment with the overall movie came in the advertising. "The most corrupt cop you've ever seen on screen" evokes the rich Hollywood tradition of amoral officers, Harrelson's character is nothing like the thugs in "Training Day" or "Bad Lieutenant". Most of what goes down in this movie is either implied or anecdotal; it's far more dialogue-driven, anticlimactic ending and all.

Claudio Carvalho In 1999, in Los Angeles, the brutal, racist and womanizer Police Officer David "Dave" Douglas Brown (Woody Harrelson) works at the Rampart Division. He lives with his dysfunctional family composed by the ex- wives Catherine (Anne Heche) and Barbara (Cynthia Nixon) and his two daughters Margaret (Sammy Boyarsky) and Helen (Brie Larson) in the same house. Dave frequently goes to single bars to have one night stand with lonely women. He was accused in the past of executing a rapist but was considered not-guilty. When his police car is crashed by a Mexican driver, the man runs and Dave brutally beats him but is filmed on video. Now the Rampart Division is being prosecuted while the Internal Affairs is investigating Dave. He spends his savings with the lawyers and needs to raise money. What will Dave do?"Rampart" is a pointless and messy film with a senseless story that goes no where. What is the intention of the director and writer is the great question about this terrible movie. The cynical character performed by Woody Harrelsonoes not seem to feel bad with his behavior; but when her confesses his misconduct in a tape to the Internal Affairs agent the viewer realizes that he is aware of everything he did wrong. There are several inconclusive subplots along the story and the viewer gets lost about where the story goes. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Um Tira Acima da Lei" ("A Cop above the Law")

inspectors71 Somewhere along the way I picked up the trivia that LAPD officers refer to their cruisers as "shops." This comes from the "shop number" each vehicle carries. No big message here--just a bit of trivia.Which is where I stand on Rampart, a dreary, artsy retread of Crash and a bunch of Wambaugh police stories, not to mention my favorite "burnt-out cop" movies, Madigan, Warning Shot, and, speaking of Joseph Wambaugh, The New Centurions. There's nothing new here, except, maybe the fact that the movies I mentioned all have protagonists who have some redeeming social value. Even Kurt Russell in that cops-are-racist-murderers screed (I can't remember the name) set in the Rodney King spring of 1992 had some shock and awe value.Nothing here. Just Woody Harrelson looking dyspeptic and cancerous and other-worldly. Throw in Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon as sisters who have both been married to this wretched Harrelson character, and you've got the makings of a really Class-A cinematic disaster. I saw on the IMDb page for Rampart that the thing made about 1/12 of the cost, but it's all so earnest and true-to-life and artsy- friggin'-fartsy that only a red-state Neanderthal would mention that the movie made zilch, thereby sucking investor-dollars away from projects that may have had a chance to succeed.If you hadn't already noticed, I hate Woody Harrelson and indie- flop-piles-of-art-garbage. If Hollywood, mainstream or independent, wants to play with its collective self, then do it at home. It won't cost investors a dime, and ego-masturbation should be kept to a minimum of public viewing.If you see Rampart on a cable channel, follow the clichéd advice from many a movie cop--"Move along; nothing to see here!"

Wizard-8 I decided to take a chance on this movie after I found a brand new DVD of it for sale at my local dollar store. Did I like the movie? For the most part, yes. There are some very good things to be found here. The acting by everybody is top notch; these actors really sell their characters. Also, the direction is very interesting, because most scenes are directed in a way that the audience feels like they are a fly on the wall, hearing secrets and other bad things that the participants don't want anyone else to hear.The movie is not perfect, however. Some viewers might object to the very slow pace. I'm not asking for a rapid pace - that would be wrong for this kind of character and dialogue-driven film - but things could have been sped up slightly. Also, I'm pretty sure that many viewers will object to the ending - that is, if it can be called an ending, because it leaves the fate of the main character (and other characters) uncertain.Still, there is some really good stuff here. If you are in a patient mood, and can accept that you won't get a cut and dried ending, you'll probably find enough to interest you.