Big Idea

• A bad guy, a hit man, a rookie cop, what’s not to like?
• Is Lauder’s career about to change?
• Watch bad guys try to kill each other
• A deserved “R” rating for this “shoot-them-up” movie.
• Read more…

It’s a good week for relaxing and watching bad guys try to kill each other.

In the days of my misspent youth, we often saw movies at the drive-in theater. Sometimes we would hide our friends and the beer in the trunk of the car when we paid admission. The second feature of the usual two movies on offer was called the 'B' movie. It was a lesser film to the main feature, just something to fill out the program. Joe Bob Brigs, TV host, author, and movie critic, once honored Roger Corman with the 'coveted silver hubcap award for excellence in 'B' movie achievement.'

In his book “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime,” Corman issued such quotable bits as “Never make your monster smaller than your leading lady.”

“Copshop” would easily fit into that traditional if not exalted slice of the movie business. Some movies get made with the intent of delighting the audience, some aim lower and simply want to divert us.

And what could be more diverting than having a bad guy arranging his own arrest as a way of hiding from other, nastier, bad guys?

The always reliable Gerald Butler plays the professional hit man who follows the fugitive criminal into the police station. The hit man never seems to be in doubt that he will succeed in whacking the jailed fugitive, but it seems like an unlikely outcome to everyone else.

But watch for the rookie cop. Alexis Lauder plays the determined, courageous if inexperienced rookie in a very bad spot. Her portrayal for me makes the movie. Lauder has enjoyed a mild career thus far but I think that is about to change.

Director Joe Carnahan made the delightfully over-the-top “Smokin' Aces” as well as the more pedestrian “Death Wish” with Bruce Willis and the silly “The A-Team.”

This week you may want to relax and just watch bad guys try to kill each other.

“Copshop” runs for one hour and forty-seven minutes. It has non-stop use of the crudest words in our language and plenty of spurting, splashing, and gushing blood. It has an R rating for these reasons. Please pay attention to the ratings. R ratings are not for kids. Grown-ups in a certain mood will enjoy this three sawblade shoot 'em up.

Listen carefully at the beginning of the film and you may hear and remember the theme from the Eastwood classic “Magnum Force.”

If you like this sort of thing you might want to try “Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman,” a more comedic Chilean film, or the 2007 outrageously bloody “Shoot'em Up” with Clive Owen.