Reviewing "Cop Car": A minimalist thrill ride

Cop Car is a thriller directed by Jon Watts (who also directed the Tom Holland Spider-Man films), starring Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim, James Freedson-Jackson, and Hays Wellford. The film is minimalist, with just five principal cast members and basically no one else. Wellford and Freedson-Jackson play preteen runaways who stumble upon the seemingly abandoned cop car of a sheriff (Bacon) with a secret. From there, the film spirals into a tense sequence of events that sees the sheriff desperate to reclaim his car while the two boys remain unaware of the encroaching danger. To say any more about the plot would spoil the tension and the fun, so I will keep this review rather brief.

The performances of Wellford and Freedson-Jackson as they childishly steal the cop car for a joyride, oblivious to the situation at hand, as well as their subsequent terror as the situation goes out of control, is powerful, affecting, and highly realistic. Bacon, too, gives a great performance as the sheriff, using various means to reclaim his car and prevent anyone from realizing that something is amiss. His character is also shown to be very smart and quick to find a way out of danger or an otherwise compromising position. Everyone brought their A-game, so I was disappointed to learn that this film didn't get a lot of mainstream exposure and didn't do well at the box office. I was at the edge of my seat throughout the whole film, worried for the two child protagonists, even when they weren't being hunted down by the sheriff but were just messing with the car while not knowing the consequences. If any film deserved a cult following, this would be one of them.

Score: 9/10