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National Security
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Obnoxious, racially charged odd-couple action-comedy pairing a put-upon white ex-cop (Steve Zahn) with the churlish, chronically offended black security guard (Martin Lawrence) who got him fired and imprisoned on false charges of police brutality. As directed by Dennis Dugan, the film plays Lawrence's racist rants for laughs, while potential sympathy for white men or cops getting a raw deal is mitigated by making the villain a corrupt white police lieutenant. Racist stereotyping, frequent action violence, a sexually suggestive scene, some crass expressions, minimal profanity, and an instance of rough language. O -- morally offensive. (PG-13) 2003
Full Review
Martin Lawrence rants endlessly against whites and Steve Zahn tries to endure him in the obnoxious odd-couple action-comedy "National Security" (Columbia), directed by Dennis Dugan.
When Earl Montgomery (Lawrence) and Hank Rafferty (Zahn) first meet, neither is in a good mood. Hank is a cop whose partner was recently killed investigating a warehouse break-in, while Earl has just been thrown out of the police academy program after recklessly destroying a police cruiser and displaying nothing but insolence toward authority.
When Hank comes across Earl struggling to reach his car keys through a partially closed window, a passerby's videotape makes the confrontation looks suspiciously like police brutality.
At the trial, Earl falsely testifies against Hank, playing the victim to the sympathetic all-black jury. While Earl's persecution-complex paranoia is so profound that he may actually believe that he was the victim of excessive force, he unambiguously perjures himself in order to shaft Hank.
Found guilty, Hank is sentenced to six months in prison, where he must assault guards and incur solitary confinement simply to survive the wrath of the black prisoners.
Six months later, back on the street, he takes a job as a security guard while working on his own to find his partner's killer. His efforts lead him to another warehouse theft, where he is stunned to run across Earl, also working as a security guard. The bad guys flee, leading to a high-speed chase that ends with both Hank and Earl in police custody.
Hank is treated as a liar and a criminal who is stalking Earl, while Earl is again treated as a victim. Earl, meanwhile, is tickled by the notion of again falsely testifying against Hank and sending him back to prison, but relents after extorting an "apology" from Hank for the original "beating."
Never in the whole movie does Earl apologize to Hank for any of this, or undo any of the damage he has done in Hank's life. Earl never even acknowledges that he lied at Hank's trial. Nor does his behavior get any comeuppance; instead, the movie winks at his outrageousness and rewards his brashness.
Over time, Earl does come to sympathize with Hank, especially when he realizes that Hank's conviction cost him not only his job and his freedom but his girlfriend as well. Yet even then, instead of apologizing, Earl says sympathetically, "You know what you are, Hank? You're a black man."
Besides the film's other problems, there are huge plot holes, such as how the villains, who are wanted by police, get a van loaded with stolen goods off a garbage scow without being caught. The end is unnecessarily extended by an overlong shootout action sequence culminating in an unabashed revenge-driven climax. And any potential sympathy for innocent white men or cops getting a raw deal is offset by introducing a corrupt white police lieutenant as the villain.
Because of racist stereotyping, frequent action violence, a sexually suggestive scene, some crass expressions, minimal profanity, and an instance of rough language, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
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