LAPD reject and major troublemaker, Earl, has managed to get L.A. cop Hank kicked off the force for brutality. Now, these two guys, who can't stand each other, are stuck working together as lowly security guards. And they're playing cops to bring down a smuggling ring - if they can stay alive and stay one step ahead of the real cops...

National Security is one of those movies that on first appearance appears to be about 20 years out of date. This is the sort of screwball buddy movie (that isn't a buddy movie - if you can follow that) that was popular in the mid-80s. But then, it's probably this 20 year break from the genre that makes National Security seem so refreshingly different.

The story is fairly straightforward. When LAPD officer Hank Rafferty's cop partner is shot in the line of action, Rafferty wants to bring his killers to justice. Earl Montgomery is a security guard who causes additional problems for Rafferty when Montgomery locks himself out of his car and is caught, by Rafferty, as he's trying to break in. One thing leads to another and finally a large bee swoops down on the arguing pair. Montgomery panics, as he's allergic to bee stings. As Montgomery dives for cover and Rafferty swings at the bee with his day stick, locals film the incident as it looks like a white cop beating a black man. Rafferty is thrown in jail and when he's released the only job he can get is as a security guard. Following a lead on his old cop partner's killers, Rafferty stumbles upon another robbery - at the warehouse that Montgomery is guarding. The two end up reluctantly working together to apprehend the criminals.

I have to admit that I found this comedy to be much funnier than I was expecting. The race issues are tackled well here - showing that everyone, no matter what colour their skin is, can be racist.

The movie does have it's faults though. Firstly the introduction of Montgomery would have been a lot funny if it wasn't for the fact that it is an almost identical copy of Will Smith's shooting range scene in Men in Black. Then there's the fact that this has one of the most obvious product placement scenes you'll ever witness in a movie - a shoot out in a drinks warehouse that seems to only store Coca Cola products and a generic brand of beer.

The extras include an audio commentary with the director (it was interesting to learn that the news anchor that introduces the Police brutality video was the first news anchor to show the infamous Rodney King video); Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending (21 min, 26 sec featurette that has a few raw versions of some of the scenes, as well as the original, rather tacky, ending); Music Video (4 min, 19 sec); and trailers for other releases. I suspect that this is exactly the same content as available on the DVD release.

For a bit of mindless comedy, you could do worse than pick up National Security.

7

Pete Boomer