Film Review: Unlawful Entry (1992)

Of all early 1990s Hollywood thrillers about idyllic middle class families being threatened by seemingly innocuous psychopath, Unlawful Entry, 1992 film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, had the best possible timing of release, as well as good fortune its main premise suddenly getting real life relevance.

The plot begins when businessman Michael Carr (played by Kurt Russell) and his wife Karen (played by Madeleine Stowe) have their home in upscale Los Angeles neighbourhood invaded by crack-addicted black burglar who would briefly put knife on Karen’s throat. The incident is investigated by two uniformed policemen – Pete Davis (played by Ray Liotta) and Roy Cole (played by Roger E. Moseley). Pete immediately takes a liking of Carrs and their home and starts helping them with bureacratic procedures, installation of security system and develops friendship with a couple. One night he invites Michael to ride-along in his patrol, during which he would apprehend the burglar and offer Michael opportunity to exact revenge by beating him up. When Michael refuses, Pete is convinced that Michael simply isn’t man enough for Karen, for whom he began to develop romantic feelings. Obsessed with the idea of having her, he starts abusing his police authority to wreck Michael’s life and finances, and even has him put in jail under false drug dealing charges, only to have Karen alone in the house.

Unlawful Entry has a simple but effective idea of psychopathic villain being a person who would, in most other films, be person of trust and unquestionable authority. This perfectly corresponded with shifting attitudes of 1990s America, when the concerns over drug-related violence and crime became secondary towards concerns about forces of law and order having too much authority. The crucial moment was beating of Rodney King, which would ultimately lead to bloody Los Angeles riots, which occurred only weeks before the premiere. This made both the premise and its implicit message effective. And, unlike people with wrong skin colour, social class and side of the law, fictional victims of police abuse in Unlawful Entry were educated, successful and white.

The message in the script by Lewis Colick and Ken Friedman was, on the other hand, somewhat muddled by poor characterisation of the main villain. Ray Liotta plays character of psychopathic policeman with the ease of an actor who learned to handle such roles in his sleep. His performance, while truly impressive, can’t explain for lack of subtlety and character background. Officer Davis is at the beginning already formed as violent and ruthless person, and every character – his partner, superiors and, most importantly, Michael and Karen, could easily see that they were dealing with “damaged goods”. The film could have been better if Davis actually began as sane or well-intentioned and his homicidal lunacy began to manifest gradually, fuelled by violent realities of street work that affect most of his colleagues. This flaw, is on the other hand, compensated with flawless direction by Jonathan Kaplan, who is more than able to create series of suspenseful scenes. Kaplan skilfully maintains tension and, as true disciple of his former mentor Roger Corman, drops some exploitation content in the film in form of nudity and sex scenes, including one in which both Russell and Stowe, one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation, refused to use body doubles. Character actor Ken Lerner in the role of Michael’s hapless lawyer provides refreshing dose of a comic relief. The ending, which features inevitable violent showdown, looks more like home invasion horror than thriller and even employs some of horror genre tropes. Unlawful Entry is a nevertheless more than good thriller and one of the rare examples of genres that could make audience think about important social issues.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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