a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

James Mangold directs this cop thriller with a a top notch cast. This tense action thriller explodes with nonstop excitement and riveting star performances Sylvester Stallone stars as a sheriff Freddy Heflin , the place were everyone calls copland in New Jersey a small seemingly peaceful town in the buroughs of New York populated by big city police officers he long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town's peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive deadly conspiracy among those local residents , he is forced to take action- and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law Di Niro Harvey Keitel Ray liotta head an incredible cast in this highly acclaimed thriller. I gave this a 7/10 this is my 240 review, Enjoy.

After the Rocky film franchise "ended" (at least for the time being) in 1990, Sylvester Stallone starred in a few clunkers (Demolition Man & Judge Dredd being first and foremost) that really put a drag on his reputation for being a serious actor outside of Rocky/Rambo flicks. In 1997, though, Stallone signed on for a much more dramatic turn in "Cop Land", and actually garnered some decent reviews from the critics. Unfortunately, I'm here to tell you to ignore those high marks...this is one of the most boring films you will ever watch.Basically, the plot of this film centers on the town of Garrison, a police officer-prolific community that seems to have a bit of a shady past. All it takes is a little incident on the force, then, to finally spur Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone) into action to set things right by exposing the corruption.At face value, that cop-conspiracy plot isn't all that terrible if you can get into that kind of stuff. The glaring problem, however, is this: an astounding lack of interesting characters. For the plot of the movie to really suck viewers in, you have to be able to hate the bad guys and at least root for the good guys. I was completely ambivalent to both causes. The corrupt cops are completely two-dimensional (no interesting side plots or character quandaries to make you think), and that is more that can be said about Stallone's Heflin, who is easily one of the most uninspiring "heroes" I've ever seen up on the big screen.Thus, with a cast of decent characters this could have been a much better overall effort. As it were, though, acting talents such as Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, and Robert Patrick were completely wasted by a script that didn't allow them to develop. For an alternative, I would highly recommend Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River", roughly in the same genre as "Cop Land" but oh so much more interesting.

I'll be honest. Copland is not a great film. It's a better watch the second time around, where it entertained me much more. Stallone is in his element, and will surprise you, especially people doubting his acting ability, as a beaten cop, who got the bad end of the stick. He works in this town on the other side of the Jersey river, that offers a much more prosperous future. In his own town, he just discovers police corruption which runs a deep path, headed by old colleague (Keitel, in a tight performance). The police force here, is a front for drugs, and other things, where we meet a few bad apples like T2's Robert Patrick, an actor who always brings something to the table. A supposed jumper, cop Rappaport disappears, and later on, becomes a liability, where the only cop he can trust is overweight, apathetic Stallone, who's just so good in this film. Copland does have some original and fresh touches about it, regarding plot, one scene borrowing, or resembling that one in Striking Distance. De Niro as a tough, hard as nails IA detective, of course, does us solid. A beefy Liotta is also very good, as Stallone's good friend and partner, adding a kind of doubting menace regarding his standing as a honest cop, which I liked, as well as his excellent talent at demonstrating very real anger, but apart from Stallone, Keitel was the other one who really impressed me. There's nothing but good actors in Copland, Cathy Moriarty, worse praising too, as a Keitel's haggard wife, doing a younger cop. The movie does keep falling to patches of ordinary, as it's not the best pick off the shelf, but definitely watch this good acting over story, especially when the films heralded by Stallone's really impressive acting you gotta witness.

Yeah, Stallone is v good, director better. You can kinda see where he has maybe told Stallone 'Here, lower your head, a bit of contrition, you're an elected sheriff, you gotta kowtow to the others' but dammit it is well done. Keitel of course great but a few others make it a good movie too, well scripted, Liota surprising, and Janine rocks as sidekick partner, love her role, v understated given her usual thing. The scene with Stallone and one of the good ones that had been taken, is actually really well done and short, simple, and sweet, but not overly done. I'm thoroughly enjoying this movie. I have been searching and sadly can't find much but I think it deserved more awards.