NARC (R)

Intense cop movie for adults.

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Common Sense rates it
3
Seen the movie? Review it
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Movie details
  • Studio: Paramount Pictures
  • Directed By: Joe Carnahan
  • Cast: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Busta Rhymes
  • Running Time: 107 minutes
  • Release Date: 12/27/2002
  • Video/DVD Release Date: 06/17/2003
  • Genre: Action/adventure
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • MPAA Explanation: extreme violence

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie is a very strong R and isn't for any but the most mature of teens. The violence, drug use, and non-stop coarse language are enough to make the most jaded of audiences flinch.

Families can talk about whether the end ever justifies the means. Each character here has a very different idea of what "justice" means, but they'll all go to great personal lengths and endanger themselves (and others) in order to pursue what they see as the necessary course of action. What are the consequences of Tellis' actions?

Message

Social Behavior:

Racial tensions a theme of the movie

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Frequent explicit scenes of drug use and addiction, death by overdose

Violence

Extremely violent and brutal, casual beatings, many characters killed

Sex

Explicit sexual references, brief nudity, references to sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse and prostitution

Language

Extremely strong language, including racial epithets

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

Against the backdrop of Detroit's industrial rot, the film (actually shot in Toronto) follows narcotics officer Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) as he is reluctantly partnered with Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) to find who killed Oak's former partner, an undercover narcotics officer.

Is it any good?

3

Fans of this genre will find that NARC provides a tightly edited, intense story with good dialogue and standout performances by both Patric and Liotta. Tellis' repressed electricity provides a good counterpoint to Liotta's plodding Oak, who emanates a protective paternalism for his partner(s) and their families. Oak, as solid as his name, is blankly brutal toward anyone who stands in his way and clearly doesn't trust his superiors, who sway to the political pressure to pin the crime on a white suspect. Suspects Beery (Busta Rhymes) and Steeds (Richard Chevolleau) are brutally beaten as he seeks something more than retribution.

Narc is very bloody and violent, with an adrenaline-pumping opening sequence that evokes the unblinking carnage of the beach scene from Saving Private Ryan. From the first jolting shots of the hand-held camera following the escaping drug dealer in his sprint for freedom, you know that there will be no day-saving heroics and that the protagonists are as scarred as a junkie's arm.

Other choices

Rush
Training Day

Serpico
Donnie Brasco

Insomnia

Internal Affairs
Deep Cover

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