Review copy provided by Signature Entertainment
Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) play’s disgraced cop Frank Penny who’s on a mission of redemption after accidentally killing the only lead in a young girl’s kidnapping. Frank Penny must go against authority to find where the missing girl is being held, however he can’t do it alone. He has the help of Ava Brooks played by Courtney Eaton (Mad Max Fury Road). Ava Brooks is an online news vlogger who’s livestreams of the events involving her and Frank Penny are not only being live-streamed to millions of people online but it is also picked up and broadcasted on mainstream TV.
In The Line Of Duty is a nice and enjoyable action thriller. Aaron Eckhart’s portrayal of Frank Penny is really great, he brings a lot to his character that could have been easily one dimensional and bland with any other actor, instead you believe what his character does and are on his side the entire time. Aaron Eckhart puts in 100% and you can see that throughout the film, from the funny back and forths he has with Courtney Eaton and even to the action scenes. Courtney Eaton is also good in her role, she adds a layer of comic relief that I really liked, as soon as her and Aaron Eckhart team up it becomes sort of an 80’s buddy cop film which I enjoyed.
To me what holds the film back from being great is the technical aspects, this is very apparent during action scenes. Don’t get me wrong the action is very entertaining and there’s some really nice shots during the action, an example would be there is a shot where the camera follows Frank Penny when he jumps out a window. My issues arise due to the coverage of the shots and how some of the shootouts are edited together. There’s an important shootout in the film were it was hard to tell where everyone was location wise because of this while the shootout was happening i was to busy trying to figure out where everyone was instead of focusing on the action.
Overall, In The Line Of Duty is a fun and enjoyable action thriller which I think most people will enjoy.
In The Line Of Duty is available on DVD and Digital HD From February 24th