Copshop, a Western‑tinged cop thriller from Joe Carnahan, remains underrated

Polygon reports that Joe Carnahan's thriller Copshop deserves a bigger audience; the film, which plays like a Western set in the present day, is currently on Prime Video and is slated to arrive on Netflix in February.

The movie centers on Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), a resourceful Nevada police officer who must withstand a siege at the Gun Creek station after criminal fixer Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) and hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler) place her and her colleagues in the crossfire. Toby Huss plays a third hitman, and much of the action unfolds in the locked-down station as Valerie decides whom, if anyone, in the jail cells she can trust. The review notes that, despite stylish shoot-outs and a bullet-riddled premise, Copshop sidesteps many genre pitfalls and offers a more workaday portrait of policing; it also points out that back in 2021 the film posted what remains the second-worst opening ever for a movie debuting in 3,000 or more theaters.

Behind the scenes, the piece recounts that Frank Grillo complained on Instagram that his performance had been cut and that Carnahan’s release-week post omitted Gerard Butler from a list of thank-yous, prompting speculation about tensions on set. Whether a different director’s cut will ever surface is unknown, but the review argues the existing Copshop stands among Carnahan’s stronger features and may merit a wider audience.

Key Topics

Culture, Copshop, Joe Carnahan, Alexis Louder, Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo