When a film featuring Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey is taken out of theaters and goes straight to DVD release, it begs an explanation. To their credit, they are only beating supporting roles while the main ones are performed by L L Cool J and Dylan McDermott as some cops and Justin Timberlake as a young reporter who tries to take them down.
The city of Edison was once the murder capital of America but in more recent times it has been put under control by a specialized police team known as First Response Assault & Tactical Unit F.R.A.T. as they call themselves. These guys do not follow the rule book they get away with shooting suspects, and stealing drugs and weapons from undercover busts, albeit with a little assistance from the bent district attorney (Cary Elwes). The F.R.A.T. cops are so extreme that they make Vic Mackey look restrained. They are practically above the law.
Up until this point, all of it has somehow escaped the attention of the newspaper journalists, until Timothy’s Bush Timberlake Pollack stumbled upon something and began to write a story regarding it. His editor Freeman sets up a DA interview for him to explain his information and not long after that, Pollack, who is the semi-shamed DA special Spacey investigator begins to experience the violence and threats. Only a steadfast cop voice, Cool J, is left that wants to change the situation.
Edison, like other places, would have been fascinating, if it did have any culture relevant to its authenticity, but sadly, it did not. It is an average account of the thriller genre and corruption. Blaming Timberlake for all these shortcomings would be too simplistic, and quite unfair I would argue. Pollack is limited in his performance as an actor, but his role is poorly conceived and one with a deeper understanding of the craft would have struggled to do more. All the clichés are here, with their empty stares. And in over his head, the newly recruited journalist eager to impress and the seasoned editor looking over to offer some wisdom, the reporter really is trying to escape and fold all at the same time. Because there’s a great dishonest politician in charge of all things. Edison sees it the same as other films like Chinatown and LA Confidential but regretfully gets it wrong.
The most shocking party here is Cool J who has delivered what is arguably his best performance for a character that has a few lines. McDermott, on the other hand, seems to be an over-actor bordering on a dancing demon while Freeman and Spacey (good as they are) just have nothing to work with. And Timberlake, plainly out of his depth, is dreadfully cast as he struggles from scene to scene. In his first feature, writer/director David J Burke had a couple of good ideas but gets constrained by his own script which features a fair cut of disastrous plot holes, terrible dialogues, and a tacked-on absurd shootout finale.
Though not everything is bad. There is some interesting cinematography, a brilliant brutal fight between McDermott and Cool J, and it is almost worth the price of a rental to watch Timberlake get knocked around.
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