Despite being based on a novel ('Blood On The Moon') by prolific and acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy (probably best known for writing the novel L.A. Confidential, which was later turned into the Oscar winning film of the same name) Cop is a crime thriller that just lacks, well thrills and crime in large doses. It's more a drama than anything else, only the drama isn't that well handled or particularly interesting.<br /><br />Despite some good ideas the script (by James B. Harris) lacks any real cohesion and is for the most part rather contrived, worse than that the dialogue is also pretty flat and uninteresting, with the characters all painted as rather one dimensional. In fact is seems as though writer Harris didn't really have any room for any of the characters except for Woods central cop, with the rest all pretty much falling by the wayside. As such most of the characters are lacking any real...character.<br /><br />As for the direction, also by James B. Harris, it's workmanlike but hardly inspiring, the nature of the story requiring a certain edge and grit to the direction that Harris just doesn't manage to deliver. That's not to say that either the script or direction are outright bad, they aren't, it's just that neither has the impact, style or strength to carry off this type of film or story, and because of this it all just comes off as rather flat and unexciting. <br /><br />Performance wise James Woods is very good in the title role, which is good because it's basically down to him to carry the whole film, a feat that he almost, but not quite manages to do. He does receive some assistance, with both Charles Durning and Charles Haid giving good, solid performances despite their rather underwritten roles.<br /><br />However the other actors aren't so lucky, with Randi Brooks, Raymond J. Barry and Steven Lambert merely passable in their roles, while Lesley Ann Warren's performance borders on schitzophrenic, with neither her radical mood swings nor motivations ringing true. Jan McGill as Wood's wife meanwhile is just so outright bad that it's no wonder that Wood's character doesn't seem all that effected when she (thankfully) leaves him not long after the film begins (I'd be relieved too). <br /><br />All in all Cop isn't a bad film, it's just not a particularly good one either. It has it's moments and is a good showpiece role for the always entertaining (and underrated) Woods, it's just that the story and the film itself doesn't stand up to his fine performance. If it had spent more time detailing the characters and concentrating on the plot then it may well have been quite an effective little thriller, however as it stands it's merely just a passable one with a strong central performance.<br /><br />7/10 One Man's Opinion.