Edison Force (DVD)

Originally titled just Edison, Edison Force reminds me a lot of another LL Cool J feature, Mindhunters. While the two films are different in just about every respect I am talking about the way I felt toward the film afterward, and that is a sense of, "Okay, now what?" Edison Force is not a bad movie and I think we can thank the massive cast for that; it just isn't the great movie it should have been thanks to a story that is not altogether engaging.

Edison Force stars Morgan Freeman, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Spacey, LL Cool J, Dylan McDermott and Cary Elwes and it centers on the fictional city Edison. The film's title obviously used to refer to the entire city whereas now it centers on the Edison Force, or the F.R.A.T. as it is called in the film. F.R.A.T. stands for First Response Assault & Tactical, a group of skilled cops focused on cracking down on crime quickly, efficiently and to the point where criminals just don't want to mess around in Edison. How do they do this? Well, breaking bones, shooting people in the head and killing them for no real reason is just a start. F.R.A.T.'s biggest problem is not crime, it is corruption and it starts from the top and works its way down where we find our two central cops, Lazerov (McDermott) and his partner Deed (Cool J). Lazerov is just about the most sadistic and corrupt cop you are going to find while Deed knew what he was getting into, but is far from comfortable with the situation. On top of that Deed is a good guy, he has a fiancé (a no-no with F.R.A.T.) and isn't down with shooting people in the head... at least to begin with.

The story gets kick-started after one particular bust in which Lazerov kills a man and frames one of the surviving criminals for the death. At the court trial rookie-journalist Josh Pollack, played well enough by Justin Timberlake, overhears a comment that gets his wheels spinning, a comment that soon finds him knee deep in F.R.A.T.'s corruption and along with his editor (Freeman) and investigator Levon Wallace (Spacey) they set out to bring the group to justice.

The plot is rather formulaic and predictable but it surprises me that this film never saw a theatrical release here in the States. There are far worse films that get released and similar films such as the so-so Lucky Number Slevin also boast large casts with a satisfactory plotline. So why only a DVD release? I am not sure, maybe it was the title and that is why they had to add "Force" for the DVD. I do know that titling it F.R.A.T would have just confused people as the name of the group doesn't exactly evoke fear in the movie either; the smoke from Lazerov's gun does though.

Edison Force is a violent flick. It's not Running Scared violent, but it has its share and it certainly adds to the watchability of the whole thing, but this movie remains nothing more than a rental. While the action is good the film on a whole just can't stand on its own despite having some of the better modern day actors in it. The making-of documentary is the only special feature and it is just as formulaic as they come. No real nuggets there.

Overall, this is a Blockbuster night viewing. Don't worry about buying it; you won't remember it after you watched it. As a matter of fact, why not also pick up Mindhunters and make it a double feature? You won't be upset that you watched either one, you just won't care one way or another afterwards.