This is what "The Shield" would look like if there were only Vic Mackeys on a very bad day and no detectives Wymms or Wagenbach around to uphold moral standards. In this little Aussie thriller cops are at the center of everything, but what cops they are: Everybody, really everybody, in Melbourne's police force seems to be corrupt or willing to break the laws. In one of its strong scenes you can see how even young and idealistic cops are drawn into this behavior, with corruption being like a contagious virus carried over from the older, more crooked cops. Even nominal heroine JJ Wilson (Belinda McClory,The Matrix's Switch) is only marginally better then the rest and in the single most intense scene of the film she nearly suffocates a suspect. She draws the line, however, when the case of a child murderer leads into the police force as well...
"Redball" packs a punch with its "Seven"-styled title sequence but quickly loses its way a bit through too many vignettes showing dirty cops doing bad things. Unlike "The Shield" there is virtually no character development and the audience does not come around to care for most of the secondary policemen characters. This is not helped by some substandard acting from the Aussie actors portraying them. Only Wilson and John Brumpton as her partner give memorable performances. A good soundtrack and some arresting visuals cannot compensate for the shortcomings of a film that is too meandering in its structure (despite the short running time), has no characters we care about and is more dull than edgy in its unrelenting portrayal of crooked cops. While watchable if you're tired of "gooody-two-shoes" heroes, it falls short of having anything meaningful to say about these less-than-likable characters and thus sinks like the body in the river which numerous cops ignore as not to bother with the paperwork. A Redball - an important breakthrough in a big case - this movie ain't.
