From director Abel Ferrara and Harvey Keitel as its lead thespian comes Bad Lieutenant, a powerful and intense neo noir, Bad Lieutenant. This movie is not for the faint of heart or the underaged. If viewers can stomach it, the NC-17 version of the film is a more impactful experience of the film, than the versions available on some streaming services.

While the plot line is relatively thin, Harvey Keitel’s performance and his character’s diabolical deeds jolt the viewer, leaving a lasting impact despite how he or she feels about the movie. The movie itself is a commentary on the levels of depravity and decadence, a person can reach, and then seek retribution, either because they have hit rock bottom or have seen the grace that some other person portrays.

The movie opens with an NYPD cop(Keitel), whose name is not mentioned ever in the movie, dropping off his kids at a Catholic school. After taking a hit of cocaine, he arrives at a gruesome crime scene, and goes through the motions that. one would expect from him. Surreptitious, he steals a bag of drugs from the scene, drives to a dilapidated building where he meets a drug dealer. He hands over the bag to the latter, in exchange for a verbal IOU for money.

Drugs are only a small part of the cop’s vices. He is next seen drinking and having a tryst with two women. The plot soon exposes his other vices, including an addiction to gambling, stealing the loot of petty thieves, he apprehends, exploiting a couple of teenage girls who he caught without licenses and more.

Fate will bring him face to face with a nun, who has been viciously raped by a couple of teenagers. The cops deeds, especially his reckless, uncontrollable gambling habit has landed him in trouble with dangerous criminals as a result of his death. These two separate forces will open a door for his lost soul to seek retribution.

While there is not much to the plot, it is Keitel’s performance and the visuals that make the movie a riveting and disturbing experience. The only gripe I had with the film is that it did not convince me that Keitel’s character would empathize with the victimized nun and feel the need to understand her forgiving spirit. It seems more likely that this cop would simply brush her act off as a sign of stupidity.

While it may be possible, that his own doomed predicament would let him see her suffering in a different light, it is more plausible that the selfishcop would entirely be focused on how he could save his own skin. Is it his own desperation that leads him toward taking small but corrective steps? Possible.

If you can stand intense scenes and loves crime movies, this movie is for you. Few other actors besides Keitel would have taken on such a role. Keitel’s performance in this movie is a performance for the ages and has been praised by numerous critics.