Blue Streak 1999 Action Comedy Film
Directed by Les Mayfield and Starring Martin Lawrence
Sep 11, 2009
A bank-robber hides a valuable diamond in the ventilation shaft of a building under construction. He returns after serving time in prison for the crime, and discovers that the building is now a new police station. The only way he can hope to get through the station’s security doors and find the diamond is to pose as a police officer.
Blue Streak's Plot and Characters
Miles Logan (Martin Lawrence) is a master thief who successfully leads a small team to steal a diamond worth 17 million dollars. The heist goes off without a hitch, but then Deke (Peter Greene) double crosses the rest of them, kills one of Miles’ accomplices and attempts to steal the diamond. Miles is able to escape him by running through a construction yard but the commotion brings the police to the scene. Hiding the diamond in a vent shaft Miles escapes Deke but is apprehended by the police.
Two years later he is released from prison and he immediately heads back to the building to retrieve the diamond, only to discover that it has become a police station. Not to be put off, he manages to arrange some fake paperwork with a police badge and slip into the police station in his attempts to retrieve the diamond. Unfortunately for him, the officers in the station believe he is a new detective and partner him with Detective Carlson (Luke Wilson).
The running joke of the film is that Miles makes a very good cop because he knows exactly how a criminal thinks.
Pros and Cons
Blue Streak is an action comedy that has liberal supplies of both. However, the audience’s reaction to the film will be based on whether they like Martin Lawrence’s particular style of comedy. He is an energetic comedian who teaches the naive Carlson (a recently promoted detective) about catching criminals, even going so far as to tell him that it is better to let the petty criminals go so they can help them catch the big criminals later on. Carlson is a charming officer, who is in over his head and has very little experience dealing with the kind of people he has to as a detective.
Tulley (Dave Chappelle) was another of Miles’ accomplices that managed to escape Deke’s betrayal and the police. Miles comes across Tulley robbing a convenience store, and whilst reluctant to arrest his friend; he is also under scrutiny by Carlson and a back-up unit that responds to the robbery.
Chappelle and Lawrence are both fine comic actors if the audience finds them funny, if not then Blue Streak will fall rather flat.
Lawrence plays the part of Miles with obvious enjoyment. Blue Streak followed 4 years after Bad Boys and after playing the stressed and straight Burnett to bounce off Will Smith’s womanising Lowrey, Lawrence seems to enjoy playing the officer who gains the respect of the other officers by being a little manic. Luke Wilson is always comfortable in a comedy setting and the pair have good on screen chemistry. Chappelle is also on fine form as he struggles to understand why everyone seems to think that Miles is a cop.
Blue Streak is just a feel good film, and the ending will leave the audience cheering for Miles who may be a criminal but is also a decent guy.
3/5
A must see for Martin Lawrence fans, however, those who find his particular brand of comedy irritating will want to steer clear of Blue Streak
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