If you happen to be an avid fan of standard superhero cops, then I would advise you against seeing writer-director Joe Carnahan's gritty new police drama, Narc.

What I refer to with the term "superhero cops" are those flatfoots unique to Hollywood who can link impossible clues together with the unblinking ease of an accountant doing fourth-grade arithmetic, keeping an unimaginably cool head even when pitted against frightening, unpredictable circumstances.

Carnahan's cops, Tellis (Jason Patric) and Oak (Ray Liotta), are jaded, often impulsive, pragmatists who cannot help but bring their own prejudices and experiences with them on their investigations.

Liotta especially brings a level of intensity to Oak that manages to be alternately intimidating and sympathetic, in what is certainly his best performance since Goodfellas more than a decade ago. Tellis also seems to be an interesting character, though Patric isn't given the chance to fully explore his potential until the captivating finale, in which he is remarkable. In this climactic scene, Patric manages to convey the confusion and anxiety that must surely accompany officers in these tense situations more frequently than does the carefree derring-do we commonly see in superhero cops.

Sadly, Tellis' home life is not nearly as intriguing as is his job. As it turns out, there is one cop-movie cliché Carnahan isn't able to avoid -- the cop's obligatory whiny wife (Krista Bridges) whose sole function is to nag unceasingly that Tellis is paying too much attention to the case and not enough to his family.

Despite this, Carnahan's movie is still an expertly conceived detective story -- not about typical, boring superhero cops, but about richly textured, emotionally ambivalent ones who may or may not always do the honorable thing.

--Reviewed by Nicholas Norcia