National Security (2003) – Martin Lawrence

National Security is a mildly entertaining action comedy starring Martin Lawrence (from Bad Boys) in his element. It’s frequently funny, and there’s a fair amount of action, but it’s got a few boring bits.

Follow his journey from being assaulted by a police officer, to joining forces with that same police officer. The final scene is especially creative funny – especially the very end of it – so don’t switch off near the end when it gets a bit boring, which it does.

Steve Zahn plays Martin’s partner – the police officer who originally assaulted him, only to join forces with him in tracking down his old partner’s killer. Steve makes an adequate partner of his, although he’s not nearly as funny as Martin of course.

Plenty of racial banter, and cop banter too.

Overall I rate this an OK movie.

Blue Streak (1999) – Martin Lawrence

Blue Streak is a fun old-school action comedy starring Martin Lawrence (from the Bad Boys movie series) as a jewel thief posing as a police detective in order to recover the diamond he unwittingly stashed inside a police building.

Martin is entertaining throughout and the supporting cast are not bad. It’s mostly light-hearted action comedy, with a few fast-paced scenes. The plot is quite simple but works well for the genre. There isn’t much screen combat here, but it’s tactically interesting.