National Security (January 17/03)

It's interesting that National Security is being marketed as a Martin Lawrence comedy, but the film is more about Steve Zahn's character and his decidedly non-comedic storyline. But Lawrence is the one that draws in the crowds, so his face is all over the trailers and posters - even though he's easily the worst aspect of the film.

Zahn stars as Hank, a dedicated cop out patrolling the streets one night with his partner Charlie (Timothy Busfield). The two happen upon a crime in progress, which they decide to investigate. Charlie is killed while Hank watches helplessly, and though Hank returns to work shortly after, the death of his partner is weighing heavily on his mind. He takes his anger out on Earl (Lawrence), whom he assumes is trying to steal a car (he is, in fact, simply trying to retrieve his keys). Hank is kicked off the force, and finds himself forced to assume a position as a security guard - in the same company where Earl works. After narrowly avoiding death in a gun battle in a warehouse, the two become unlikely partners - with Hank looking to find the man who killed his partner, and Earl hoping to prove he has what it takes to become a real cop.

The most surprising thing about National Security is how violent it is. There are a lot of sequences featuring good guys and bad guys just shooting at each other, and that's become all-too-rare these days. Director Dennis Dugan generally has a good sense of how to make an action sequence exciting, though his obsession with slow-motion does border on distracting. If there's an explosion or a car driving through a building, you're virtually guaranteed a nice slo-mo shot of the action. Alongside the unnecessarily showy direction is the equally cliched screenplay, which throws in practically every single action film standby - from the gruff captain who wants the cop off the case to the grinning and cold-hearted villain. But it doesn't feel entirely out of place here; this isn't exactly the kind of film that's screaming out for originality. The only thing that matters is whether or not the movie can utilize those cliches effectively, and National Security does that.

Among the actors, Lawrence is certainly the weakest link. He seems to have been allowed to improvise to his heart's content, because he never bothers to establish an actual character. Lawrence is playing Lawrence here, and his motormouth riffs and incessant jabbering becomes awfully tedious and tiresome after a while. Luckily, Lawrence is surrounded by some great actors, so his presence doesn't hurt the film as much as it could have. Zahn, of course, is quite good as the haunted cop - he brings a surprising amount of depth and gravity to a character that was surely written to merely play straight man to Lawrence. As the head bad guy, Eric Roberts has a lot of fun and wastes no time in chewing the scenery. This is an actor that doesn't get nearly enough work, and it was great seeing him on the big screen again. Finally, a couple of ubiquitous character actors pop up in small roles - Colm Feore and Bill Duke - and the movie is certainly made more enjoyable by their presence.

Look, National Security is about as cliched and silly as it gets - but given that it's January, a notorious dumping zone for the studios, the film shouldn't have wound up as entertaining as it is (it certainly doesn't hurt that the movie runs a brisk 80 minutes - something most films of this ilk can't claim to do).