Scout Taylor-Compton’s Bring the Law

Det. Desmond Mitchell’s new Chatsworth-area territory is so lawless, it makes him miss Oakland. Frankly, crimelord Glen Gargos considers it his territory. Most of the cops tend to agree, perhaps including a member or members of Mitchell’s new team. However, Mitchell is too hardheaded and has too little to lose, so he refuses to play ball in Scout Taylor-Compton’s Bring the Law, which releases this Friday in theaters and on-demand.

Gargos’s Red Flag gang runs the drugs and human trafficking in the area. They have also branched out into the protection racket, but they aren’t as good at it—judging from the bodega bodies they left behind. Mitchell’s team cautions against “rocking the boat,” but he prefers to enforce the law. (Even weirder, his new office happens to be in the Los Angeles MDC Federal Prison, at least judging from the exterior shots.)

It is pretty clear someone is on the take, especially when a hit squad reaches a potential witness right after Mitchell. Unfortunately, one of gunmen happens to be Laura Sanchez’s junkie brother. Mitchell is not exactly close with her, but the diner waitress is one of the few people in the neighborhood who will talk to him. So far, his best source of intel is Olaf, the homeless curmudgeon, who doesn’t expect Mitchell to live much longer.

Bring the Law is unusually gritty and cynical, even by the standards of Mickey Rourke VOD movies. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but the decidedly cheap look is a real drawback. In her directorial debut, Taylor-Compton (best-known for starring in Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies) seems to be going for throwback grunge, which isn’t a terrible strategy. Yet, despite Rourke’s creepy preening as Gargos, the themes and subject matter are too conventional to appeal as exploitation nostalgia. It is just a conspicuously low budget cop movie.

Still, Brendan Fehr (from Roswell) is not bad as Mitchell. In fact, he develops decent chemistry with Taylor-Compton’s Halloween co-star, Danielle Harris. Rourke chews every stick of scenery he can get his jaws around, but Nicky Whelan looks out of place and generally under-employed as his femme fatale lieutenant, Melinda.

If anything in Bring the Law really surprises you, then you should probably get out more. Taylor-Compton maintains a sense of danger and stages some decent action sequences, but viewers will probably feel like lathering any exposed skin with hand-sanitizer after watching. Ultimately, Bring the Law just doesn’t offer enough to justify your time, when it releases this Friday (2/27).