The Screen Addict | Copshop

Joe Carnahan has always been somewhat of an enigma to me. 20 years ago, the filmmaker exploded onto the scene with the very gritty – and very good – independent low-budget release Narc (2002), starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric. At the time there was a huge surge in Corrupt-Cop Thrillers with the likes of Cop Land (1997) and Training Day (2001), and Narc was right smack in the middle of it.

Since his theatrical debut however, Carnahan has been all over the place in terms of style and story – the over-the-top film adaptation of The A-Team (2010), back to bare-bones basics with The Grey (2011), and Guy Ritchie-esque intertwined plots with Smokin’ Aces (2006) and Stretch (2014).

A few years ago, I was personally involved with Carnahan when I was close to acquiring the excellent Groundhog Day (1993) inspired SciFi-Actioner Boss Level (2020), but lost interest when the producers announced they made a deal to release it exclusively through Hulu in the US.

Carnahan does a huge amount of credited and uncredited scriptwriting – Pride and Glory (2008), Bad Boys for Life (2020) to name but a few – but hasn’t had a huge output as a feature-film director over the past two decades. Lately though, it appears the filmmaker has found some new momentum with two independently financed projects – Shadow Force, an upcoming Action-Thriller starring Omar Sy and Kerry Washington, and the Gerard Butler - Frank Grillo starrer Copshop (2021).

Despite an attractive cast and High-Concept plot, Copshop flew largely under the theatrical radar around the world, presumably caught in the vortex of its financier’s bankruptcy. Fortunately, BeNeLux distributor The Searchers did release a Blu-ray of Carnahan’s latest, making this dogged collector of physical media very happy.

Copshop’s plot is simple but immediately engaging – when a con-artist (Grillo) gets himself arrested and locked up in a police cell in an attempt to hide from the hitman (Butler) who is out to get him, the hitman pulls a fast one and gets himself locked up in the cell right next to his target.

It’s a pretty awesome premise and Carnahan makes the most of it by throwing in elements of, obviously, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), a whole lotta Die Hard (1988), Butler’s own Law Abiding Citizen (2009), and even a smidge of Face/Off (1997). Makes you wonder why we don’t see more stories that take place in or around a police station – there’s just so much opportunity for drama.

Grillo and Butler are always fun to watch, but the true joy here for me was Alexis Louder, playing the rookie cop who is on to the scheme. This relative newcomer more than holds her own between the two Action heavyweights. Absolutely badass.

Carnahan, who co-wrote the script, is a master in conjuring up kooky side characters – often with the profession of psychopathic hitman – and does not disappoint in Copshop. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for every second the particularly nasty Anthony Lamb (Toby Huss) fills the frame – but then again, he’s a pretty hard man to ignore.

Copshop is a solid, ironclad recommend. And although Carnahan might have been lying low the past few years, we needn’t worry about whether or not we’re going to see more great stuff from the man. A quick glance at his IMDb filmography learns that the writer-director has no less than NINE projects in development…

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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict