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158 reviews in total

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120 out of 136 people found the following review useful:
Stallone's comeback not for the ignorants, 20 April 2001

Author: Tasos Tz. from London, England

I know that everyboby's laughing about a movie that Stallone's starring in. His name is an easy target even to the most ignorant ones; they immediately put him under the 'action movie' label, like Arnold or Jean-Claude. What people forget (or don't know) about is that Stallone differs from all those action movie actors, in that he turned into this icon we all know by making a series of (really) bad choices. Do you know that Sly's the one who wrote the script of the Oscar winning Rocky? Do you know that because his face is half paralyzed (from birth) he speaks in that weird way that some people find difficult to understand what he's saying (and always joke about it)? Do you know that he was paid only $60.000 for his acting in Cop Land, while he had to gain 30 pounds for his role?

To me Cop land is the kind of movie Stallone should have made after First Blood. The director knows what Sly's really capable of so he gives him this role of the cop that is so fair and just, but inside him a burning past lives on. He's a hero and because of that he's lost half of his hearing to save the woman he loves, but she went on to marry another man. He can't be promoted because of his hearing, and while he wants to stay integral, he has to face the deeds of his fellow police officers.

The movie showcases the struggle of a man to overcome his past, the temptation of corruption and the triumph of one's will to remain true to what he believes in. The final sequence is similar to the one's of The Unforgiven or Taxi Driver and it provides a hymn to the human spirit. Stallone's perfomance is unforgettable and he should be nominated for an academy award. Do you think that it's an accident that his performance overshadows De Niro's and Keitel's appearences?

I believe that if Stallone did a movie like that right after his first 2 triumphs he could be leading a career similar to the one of De Niro's. But unfortunately, to all of us Sly's only capable of throwing hand grenades. Right Leonard Maltin?

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76 out of 84 people found the following review useful:
My God! Stallone can act!, 5 January 2000

Author: fiozinho from Lisbon

Sylvester Stallone is excellent in this slow-moving, absorbing film about cops on the take. Sly goes through what must be one of the longest slow-burns in movie history as the dumb, passive sheriff who only has his job thanks to the grace of crooked cop Harvey Keitel and protects him and his gang because of it. When it finally dawns on him, as it was inevitable it would, that he's been played for a fool, the results are explosive. It's well written, with a strong storyline, great dialogue and excellent performances all round (especially from Robert de Niro, Keitel and Ray Liotta). But it stands or falls on Stallone's portrayal of the central character, and he rises surprisingly majestically to the occasion. A very restrained, sensitive performance in a cracking good film.

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56 out of 61 people found the following review useful:
Stallone's Finest performance, 7 December 2001

Author: John Taylor (jdtaylor@btinternet.com) from Bedfordshire, England

Copland is one of those film that gets better and better the more you watch it. The story is gripping and the acting in straight from the top drawer and top of the performances is from Sylvester Stallone. Not normally known for his acting ability, Stallone pulls out his finest performance .To say he is the best in this film is a massive compliment considering the company he performed with in Copland. Robert De niro , Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta all put in memorable displays , of which you would expect but Stallone still stands out. He plays the sheriff of a sleapy town called Garrison who's occupants are all members of the New York police Department.Because of an accident while saving someones life he is unable to pass the medical to get in the NYPD therefore as a sheriff he is not respected amongst the population of the town.He learns that an influential group of cops are crooked and are planning to kill to save their own necks. Totally Gripping. 8 out of 10.

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45 out of 47 people found the following review useful:
A better film than many reviewers originally thought, 27 November 1999

Author: Jerry Baustian (jbaust@gte.net) from Texas

I saw this file when it first came out and enjoyed it on a fairly superficial level. Now, after I've seen it again, I think it is a much better film. Not quite great, but excellent on many levels. Another reviewer has commented that Stallone's character is like in the first Rocky film, before all the Rambo BS. I agree. I think this is a showcase for great actors in an above-average script, with excellent directing. This is not a Stallone film, other actors could play this part, but he plays it to a T. Keitel is fantastic, as usual, De Niro and Liotta are okay. The subplot between Stallone and Sciorra, Freddy who once saved Liz from drowning when he was a kid, but he lost his hearing in one ear as a result and could never join the NYPD -- that's a powerful subplot that could have been more fully explored, but only at the expense of the main plot. All in all, a much better film than reviewers thought when it first came out, IMO.

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33 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
Finally, a role that shows Stallone's true talent, 28 May 2001

Author: Matt Lustig from California, USA

Many people see Silvester Stallone as just another action movie hero who can't do anything but that. However, unlike other action movie stars, (Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Seigal etc..) Stallone made his breakthrough with a movie that wasn't really an action movie at heart. He gave forth an excellent performance in Rocky and set a standard for himself that just seemed to fall and fall as his career progressed. He starred in cheesy action movie role after cheesy action movie role until finally people began associating him with nothing but that. Now finally, over twenty years after Rocky, Stallone comes back and shows people that he can be more than an action hero if he wants to. Stallone's performance in Cop Land shows vulnerability, anger, admiration, fear and many other emotions that were rarely present in any of his movie except Rocky. I'm sorry to say that I was one of the many people who took Cop Land for granted when it came to theaters simply because I didn't believe Stallone could do anything but cheesy action movies. Today, I finally rented it out of pure curiosity and was shocked at how far I was from the truth.

Cop Land is a very well made film about a small town that corrupt New York City cops have made their haven. Stallone plays the sheriff of the town, Freddy Heflin, who wanted to be NYPD but couldn't due to a hearing disorder. When Murray 'Superboy' Babitch (Michael Rapaport) shoots and kills two drugged up teenagers when he mistakes a steering wheel club for a gun in a high speed chase, his friends come in to help him. But their far-fetched plan starts to come down on them when Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) from Internal Affairs begins investigating Superboy's alleged suicide. Things begin to go seriously wrong from here and Freddy is caught right in the middle. I thought that Stallone would have been upstaged by all his great co-stars like Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro, but I was wrong. Stallone comes out perfectly as an aging cop with smashed dreams faced with a moral dilemma he doesn't know how to solve. In many ways he idolizes these big time New York cops but he knows that many of the things they do are wrong. In many ways Stallone's performance is far superior to that of his co-stars as he exhibits more depth and character development than any of them.

Cop Land is a somewhat unknown gem that many people overlooked for the wrong reasons. If you have any interest in the genre I would highly recommend it. Cop Land is probably the second best police murder/crime drama I've seen, only behind L.A. Confidential. At times the story has something to be desired and unlike L.A. Confidential is drags in some parts but the fantastic performances by every cast member more than make up for these minor flaws. I give Cop Land 8 stars out of 10.

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28 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
Nice movie with great actors, 3 January 2002

Author: HunterDK (pc@person.dk) from Denmark

I didn't really know what to expect from "Cop Land".

You have some expectations when actors like Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel star in this movie - but could Stallone be the quiet Sheriff? The answer is yes, Stallone did well in this movie, he showed that he isn't just an action star, he is a great actor.

"Cop Land" had a nice story, but I think it had more potential. The movie could have lasted for 20-30 minutes more. It was a nice movie anyway, I will rate it 7/10.

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22 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
Better than the other ones..., 7 January 2005

Author: Guardia from Brisbane, Australia.

This movie was always going to be interesting because it involves so many sides to the one story. There is an excellent balance established between all the factions involved in the case of a missing/dead police officer.

The characters for this sort of movie are very original, and their flaws are revealed just as much, if not more so than their strengths. This has to be Sylvester Stallone's career highlight, and goes to show that his talents are not necessarily best for action movies. And De Niro's understated but excellently played "Moe Tilden" leaves you wishing he was featured more. The scenes between these two characters are worth the viewing alone. Harvey Keitel as well, plays an excellent cop/quasi-crime boss.

It's a little soppy at times but overall a stand-out in it's genre.

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17 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
not a bad turn for Stallone, 11 September 2003

Author: rdoyle29 from Winnipeg, Canada

Mangold's second film, the corruption drama "Cop Land" stars Sylvester Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the much-denigrated sheriff of tiny Garrison, New Jersey, a community which - thanks to a technicality - is populated almost entirely by members of the New York City Police Department.

When young cop Murray "Superboy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) becomes embroiled in a controversial shootout which leaves two black youths dead, he apparently commits suicide rather than face the wrath of an official investigation. In reality, however, he flees to safety back home in Garrison. In the wake of the controversial events, NYPD Internal Affairs lieutenant Moe Tilden (Robert DeNiro) arrives in Garrison to uncover the truth. He attempts to enlist Freddy to watch the watchmen, including Superboy's uncle, veteran cop Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel); coked-out Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta); and Joey Randone (Peter Berg), the husband of the woman (Annabella Sciorra) Freddy loved and lost. A rich, complex film about redemption, "Cop Land"'s portrayal of Freddy's struggles to prove his worth mirrors Stallone's own return to thoughtful, character-driven drama after years of vacuous action roles. Like Freddy, he faces an uphill battle, fighting for respectability in the face of a superb cast including Janeane Garofalo, Cathy Moriarty and Paul Calderon.

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19 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
The Good & Bad Of 'Cop Land', 11 February 2007

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

This star-studded cast was more impressive than the story, which is probably one reason this film wasn't a big box-office success. The names might draw people into the theater but it just wasn't a good enough story to attract more fans.

Only small-town sheriff "Freddy Heflin" played by Sylvester Stallone, is a good guy while the others, all New York City cops, are shown to be crooked. You can overdo the bad-guy thing, too, which Hollywood does and then probably doesn't understand why the movie isn't appealing to the masses. With Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra and others, this should have done better.

Having said all that, I go on record as saying I enjoyed the film, finding it intense in parts and it kept my interest. Could it and should it have been better? Yes. It's too hard-edged, profane and too sleazy. But if you like a tough crime film, here is one. I would watch it a second time.

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16 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Well played, if unlikely thriller, 28 January 2002
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Freddie Heflin is a sheriff in a New Jersey suburb mainly populated by NYPD cops seeking a break from the big city. Freddie lives in awe of the cops, unable to join due to deafness in one ear. However he is forced to confront Donlan and his colleagues when an IA officer Tilden begins to investigate the killing of two unarmed black men by, and subsequent suicide of Donlan's nephew Murray Babitch.

This `independent' thriller boast a deep cast and certainly had a lot to shout about in the run up to it's release. The problem is with the actual story that the film has to work with. The start is exciting with Babitch's killing of two black motorists but it is also quite stretched. Similarly the denouncement is exciting but is quite easy to see it coming. However the middle section is good, as it relies on the characters and the actors to develop the story - although there is probably too much history to squeeze into a short time.

Stallone proves that he can act, being excellent in a particularly unglamorous role, carrying extra weight for the part and looking like he took lessons from De Niro. The rest of the cast would find it hard to be bad - De Niro and Harvey Keitel rekindle their Scorsese partnership and both are good here. Liotta, Rapaport, Patrick and Sciorra are all excellent in smaller roles. Even small roles are played by heavyweights - Emmerich, Moriarty, Spencer, Vincent and Garofalo (who only seems to have 2 scenes!)

Overall the film benefits from a fantastic cast but needed a much stronger plot to justify the depth of the performances.

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