Edison Force
(Showbox Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(2005)
review by Suicide Blonde

A friend told me about this movie and I didn’t believe him. But look, you can see for yourself – direct to DVD starring a rapper, pop singer and two of my all-time favorite actors. Consider my mind boggled.

Edison Force was apparently supposed to be Justin Timberlake’s big-screen debut but after poor test screenings it was unceremoniously dumped to video. I’m not one who automatically trusts in the wisdom of test audiences, but they were definitely right this time. Edison Force is bad, but not bad in an entertaining way. It’s just dull, dull, dull. One of those movies you can safely multitask while watching (I painted my fingernails – “True Rose” by L’Oreal!).

In the shiny-on-the-outside, corrupt-on-the-inside city of Edison, the ultra-tough special police force (acronym is F.R.A.T. – oooh, clever!) is getting out of hand. Not content with cleaning up the streets, they’re now funneling money confiscated from crime scenes directly into the political coffers, and executing suspects for trivial matters. This doesn’t sit well with new cop Rafe Deed (LL Cool J and his one facial expression), and soon a rookie reporter (Justin Timberlake in “Jimmy Olsen” mode) for the local rag starts putting together a story about the police and political corruption. Antagonizing and encouraging Timberlake is his boss (Morgan Freeman, on autopilot), a former Pulitzer-winning reporter who’s disillusioned and drinks a lot. (We know Freeman’s character isn’t completely disillusioned because he can still groove out to that “Time Has Come Today” song; he also dances to it, which is kinda scary.) Coming to the aid of Freeman and Timberlake is Kevin Spacey, an investigator who wears his shirts buttoned up all the way a la David Lynch and has a horrifying hairpiece (it looks as if a marmoset died on top of his head).

Timberlake isn’t as bad as you’d expect, but he’s not that good either. He’s convincing early on as the rookie journalist, projecting an “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” vibe that I remember well from my own journalism days. Unfortunately he never really loses that vibe, and his attempts to do serious scenes show that he learned his craft at the Elijah Wood School of Wide-Eyed Earnestness. One can’t blame Timberlake for the movie, though – the story is unremarkable in every way, and the direction workmanlike at best. I’m not sure if Freeman and Spacey could have saved it, even if they had put in some actual effort.

There are one or two not-bad scenes. A gory gunshot to the head livens things up, and there’s a nice brawl between two cops that takes place in an office – the cops end up using staplers and phones to beat each other, and it shouldn’t work but does.

But even these scenes can’t save matters, and as the movie slogs to its inevitable conclusion, you may find yourself alleviating the tedium by pondering such questions as: Will the actor playing the police force captain ever pick an accent and stick with it? If they had substituted a mannequin for the Cary Elwes character, would anyone have noticed? Does LL Cool J have an expression beyond “surly” in his repertoire? What if that thing on top of Spacey’s head is a Tribble? How will they transport it to the Klingon ship before it reproduces?

Extras are as yawn-inducing as the movie. Trailers and a featurette I couldn’t bring myself to watch. Recommended only if you are home sick with the flu and need to kill time before you can take more Nyquil.