Rampart stars Woody Harrelson as a corrupt cop who is finally caught abusing his power. The film reunites director Oren Moverman with cinematographer Bobby Bukowski - who also worked together on The Messenger - and features an all-star cast including Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Ice Cube, Ben Foster, Robin Wright and Ned Beatty.
The Movie
Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) is a Los Angelas cop, working in the Rampart division. He's of veteran status, and by this point in his career has his beat well mapped, and walks around with a swagger to suggest he's earned it. And if he hasn't earned it he'll take it anyway. He's built up a little world where he imagines himself as this hero cop who is doing the best he can for his family. His family consists of two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon) and as many daughters, and they all live next door to each other in order to keep this little world turning. But when Brown gets caught on video using excessive force on the job, it starts to unravel what he's built up for himself. His arrogance and failure to realize that he's done anything wrong eventually makes things worse, and in an attempt to cover up his misdeed, his abuses of power beget even more sins. And he is no longer able to keep all of them under wraps.
The actual word "rampart" is obviously an allusion to his precinct, but also highlights his isolationist and self-preservation instincts. He has built up his job and family as a buffer against the reality of who he really is. As long as his upstanding, imagined life is still maintaining its facade, he actually believes himself to be doing ok. This is regardless of the fact that he habitually clings to his vices of drugs and one-night-stands in singles bars. Yeah, Dave Brown has it all together.
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