Body Cam

Police officer Ganning has been found ripped in two. There's no evidence to explain how or why it happened and his body cam & dash cam footage has seemingly been wiped after one viewing. His murder happens the same night Police officer Smith (Mary J. Blige) came back on duty after six months of forced leave & this combined with the accidental death of her son the year before knocks her and the rookie cop under her command, Holledge (Nat Wolff) for six. Nothing about the killing makes sense until two more cops interrupt a crime in progress in a convenience store...

The cop film. That most steadfast of genres. Always in the cinema, always on TV. It's hard to enjoy them these days though. What has nearly always been portrayed onscreen as an institution designed to protect people now feels racist, fascistic and militant when you look at the news. Black people are being murdered by them indiscriminately all over America and the people out protesting those murders are being tear gassed and beaten for having the temerity to speak out. As such it's hard to watch a film like Body Cam without having your point of view tempered by these events. Thankfully Body Cam stays on the right side of the issue. It would have been a rather thorny watch otherwise.

Body Cam is a bit of a rarity. A cop film/horror film. An unusual hybrid but it works. It mightn't compare to the real life horrors being doled out at the moment but it certainly works as a bit of escapism that still manages to feel very very topical, especially in it's latter half. Mary J. Blige does well as Officer Smith, a woman reeling from tragedy. She's an African American cop and carries that's burden with her too. Her majority Black Louisiana city sees her as blue first. She gets no respect from those she polices and for good reason. Her fellow boys in blue aren't exactly practicing what they preach and their sins are now coming back to bite them. Well, bite is an understatement. More dismember or flat out ripping their spines out.

It's here the film flirts with revenge fantasy and your enjoyment of what happens will, as I mentioned 2 paragraphs ago, be coloured by your political stance on current events. Me? I enjoyed it, but I'm one of those sick puppies who loves the cop shop shoot out in The Terminator. Also you got to respect a horror movie that sticks to it's guns. No cheap copouts, no it was all a dream or it was all in her end. Nope, Body Cam is about the supernatural and follows through to it's satisfying climax. It's uses the unknown to tell a story that isn't anti cop, but rather anti corruption and it's intelligent enough to not tell it's story in black & white terms. I like when a movie respects it's audience enough to let them work out what's what.

Body Cam. A surprisingly decent watch that elevates itself above the usual streaming nonsense with a thoughtful and topical storyline. Available to stream on Google movies and itunes now.