James Woods plays a stressed-out but determined detective on the hunt for a serial killer who has a vendetta against some former female college students.<br /><br />Not only is he stressed with his crumbling marriage, but is also ham strung by his boss at the police precinct who is a born-again Christian and won't allow Woods the kind of resources he demands in order to trace the serial murderer before he strikes again.<br /><br />By the end of the film Woods has been suspended from the force for repeatedly over stepping the mark, but at least he has his prey in his sights and won't let something as the Law get in his way.......<br /><br />Not a particularly original script and it sometimes stalls & loses emphasis and a sense of direction. But for all that Woods hold the story together quite well in his customary man-on-the-edge way.<br /><br />Woods has always been one of my favourite actors, he plays his characters with a great deal of intensity, passion and understanding (especially in the Oliver Stone movie, Salvador). And as a consequence his part as Lloyd Hopkins in this film is well suited & crafted for Woods' considerable depth.<br /><br />Hopkins is arrogant & difficult not only to work with but also to live with. He is pushy and very confrontational and insists he gets his own way now rather than later, very much like Clint Eastwood's "Dirty" Harry Callahan character.<br /><br />In particular he hates to see women ill-treated and so this particular murder mystery is to his liking and won't rest until he has tracked down the "scum ball" that murdered these students.<br /><br />He has a heart of gold when he is with his little daughter. But he is also scared & concerned about her future and hopes that she will learn right from wrong and not fall into the shadows of crime & sleaze that he witnesses every day where he works.<br /><br />But for all his morality & self-rightousness, he is also a cheat, a womaniser & just as sleazy as some of the scum that walk the streets that he so detests. So he is a man of contradiction, compassion and anger all rolled into one, which is just the kind of role best suited for Woods.<br /><br />Unfortunately, none of the supporting actors are blessed with such dynamic or rounded characters, most of them are predictable & stereotyped, so we soon learn or hazard a guess as to what will happen to them during the unravelling of the movie.<br /><br />There are a couple of cameo roles from Charles Haid (typecast again from his days as a cop in Hill Street Blues), Lesley Anne Warren and Charles Durning. But none of these characters are strong enough or offer any dimension to the film. <br /><br />A lot has been said about the unusual ending. I guess in one respect it could have been done better although the very final scene (the fade to black and the sound of fired bullet casings clinking off the floor) is excellent and quite shocking.<br /><br />Overall then, Cop is a routine thriller with only James Woods lifting it from the mediocre and into a competent drama. Woods does a fine job as always but there's not much else going on and is perhaps 20 minutes or so too long.<br /><br />***/*****