Internal Affairs

Gere (a brilliant return to form) plays an experienced LA street cop who clashes with the tight-assed pen-pushers from Internal Affairs ('the cops of the cops'). But what do these bureaucrats (Garcia and Metcalf) know? Well, for a start, they know that Gere's ex-wives own a fortune in real estate, and that his partner's wife drives a Merc and wears a Rolex. At this point, the morality begins to shift and slide, leaving no clear identification figure. A key element in Gere's modus operandi is his ability to identify and exploit the weaknesses of others, something he uses to advantage against Garcia, with taunts about his wife's alleged infidelity. But as the Internal Affairs officers home in on Gere's strung-out partner (Baldwin), they show much the same killer instinct. Also, impressively, the film highlights both the working-class contempt Gere feels for college-boy Garcia, and the fact that Garcia's lesbian partner seems driven by resentment of Gere's macho persona. How much of this was in Henry Bean's excellent script is impossible to tell, but Figgis (in his first American feature) handles the explosive action and the psychological undercurrents with equal assurance. Dark, dangerous and disturbing.