Claudio Carvalho In 1999, in Los Angeles, the brutal, racist and womanizer Police Officer David "Dave" Douglas Brown (Woody Harrelson) works at the Rampart Division. He lives with his dysfunctional family composed by the ex- wives Catherine (Anne Heche) and Barbara (Cynthia Nixon) and his two daughters Margaret (Sammy Boyarsky) and Helen (Brie Larson) in the same house. Dave frequently goes to single bars to have one night stand with lonely women. He was accused in the past of executing a rapist but was considered not-guilty. When his police car is crashed by a Mexican driver, the man runs and Dave brutally beats him but is filmed on video. Now the Rampart Division is being prosecuted while the Internal Affairs is investigating Dave. He spends his savings with the lawyers and needs to raise money. What will Dave do?"Rampart" is a pointless and messy film with a senseless story that goes no where. What is the intention of the director and writer is the great question about this terrible movie. The cynical character performed by Woody Harrelsonoes not seem to feel bad with his behavior; but when her confesses his misconduct in a tape to the Internal Affairs agent the viewer realizes that he is aware of everything he did wrong. There are several inconclusive subplots along the story and the viewer gets lost about where the story goes. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Um Tira Acima da Lei" ("A Cop above the Law")

Adam Peters (18%) One of those rare movies that has some really good aspects, the main one being Woody Harrelson's very strong central performance, but overall this is frustrating misfire. By the 30th or so minutes in this feels like it's padding itself out without giving anything in return in terms of real substance, it's all just bits and pieces spoon fed every so often. This does eventually get itself going, but again it's very much one step forward one step back as it just doesn't go that one step further needed to make this a worthy film. It is almost as if Harrelson and the director are both trying to whip up some much needed energy, but they can only go so far with it before hitting a brick wall. The supporting cast is more distracting than impressive with famous faces popping up and quickly going away again, almost as if they all had a gap between projects so agreed to appear in this for a few days pay because there's no real reason why such big name stars would play such minor roles in a police drama. This, like the similar "End of watch" is a well acted, but pitifully low content failure of a movie that proves a good central performance isn't enough to make a good movie.

suite92 Los Angeles, 1999.At lunch, David and Dan give the new rookie Jane a pep talk of sorts about being in the LAPD. Jane asks about the scandal. Something's gone wrong, the DA is pressured to prosecute someone in LAPD, but he would rather not. More details later; this is central to the movie. Then David and Jane go on routine maneuvers. Much of the detail is about different nationalities of illegal aliens, together with the Siamese twin issue of the massive illegal drug industry.David's home life is a bit different. He married one woman, Barbara. They broke up, then he married her sister, Catherine. He sired a daughter with each, Helen and Margaret. Both families live with him. Just to top things off, when both wives deny him, he's quite comfortable with picking up hot women at bars.After an incident with a man who rammed his car, Dave is asked to retire. He makes it clear that he has not intention of doing this. The pressures against him mount. He retains counsel. He uses his contacts to try to find out the real motivations behind what's hitting him. One of the chief of these contacts is Hartshorn, who finally gives up on him.His wives and daughters all desert him, kick him out of the house he pays for, send him their rivers of hate. Internal affairs is closing in.Will Dave find a reasonable way through the mess he is in? -----Scores------Cinematography: 9/10 Usually excellent.Sound: 9/10 No problems.Acting: 10/10 Well done to: Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson, and Ned Beatty.Screenplay: 7/10 Looked like it needed another 30 minutes to close the loops, but decided to leave things hanging. What happens to Dave and the rookie, or Dave and Dan, or the larger corruption investigation? Did Hart recover? There were lots of loose ends. Still, the story of Dave moved forward relentlessly.

doug_park2001 Well-acted and well-filmed, "Rampart" is an interesting character study of a corrupt scumbag cop. Its strongest point is that Brown (Harrelson)is far from being a totally stereotypical scumbag cop. I really enjoyed hating him at the beginning, and never exactly came to like him, but this film truly shows how Brown means well, or at least thinks he does, and allows the audience to empathize and maybe even sympathize with him enough to keep "Rampart" from being totally forgettable.Otherwise, I concur with many of the other reviews here. Despite a compelling opening scene, the so-called plot of this film meanders and is very unfulfilling. It might have worked better if Brown had not been placed in semi-suspension from the police force so early in the film and we could see him in action a little more before all the politics and soap operas begin.