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National Security | 2003 | PG-13 | - 4.4.5

Buddy action flick about two security guards who have to work together to uncover a smuggling operation. The problem is that they hate each other: Martin Lawrence was an arrogant L.A.P.D. cadet who got kicked out of the police academy and got a job as a lowly security guard at "National Security," while Steve Zahn was an uptight police officer who became a security guard at the same firm after being accused of harassment by none other than his current partner in security. Also with Bill Duke, Colm Feore and Eric Roberts. [1:31]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A woman wears a low-cut top that shows cleavage and her bare abdomen: a man begins searching her, smacks her buttocks, asks if she's wearing a thong, the woman takes off her top, climbs on the man's lap, he handcuffs her to the ceiling and we see her in her bra and underpants. A man and a woman flirt, he thrusts his hips toward her a couple of times and makes references to his endowment. A man flirts with another woman briefly. A woman lies on a table having her thigh tattooed; she appears to be in bra and panties or shorts that expose cleavage, bare abdomen and bare thighs. A man drops his pants so a woman can clean a wound (the view of below his waist is blocked). Women wear tight-fitting, low-cut tops that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens and bare shoulders throughout the movie. We see a man sitting on a toilet with his pants around his ankles. Several men are shown bare chested in different scenes. A man asks another man "...do you need a hug?" a woman asks a man "are you gonna give it to me now?" a man talks about the style of sex he likes, a man says to another man "why don't you get a room?"

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Police officers come upon a group of men who have broken into a storage facility, a gunfight breaks out with shooting back and forth and one officer is shot twice and killed. Two men fight on a ledge over water; they kick and punch each other, one throws a rock down nearly crushing the other's head, one man is knocked over the edge and dangles and the other man is thrown off the ledge and crashes onto rocks in the water below (we hear a crunch when he hits). There is a shootout between thieves and two security guards in a warehouse full of bottled beverages: shots are fired back and forth, men are hit and fall to the ground and containers are hit that spray soda all over, and a car is shot up. A man takes aim at a man, another man shoots him and that other man is also shot. Men shoot into the back of a tractor trailer trying to hit two men, the truck jackknifes across the lanes of a bridge, the two men in the trailer drive a van out of the back and go hurtling through the air and off the bridge and crash onto a garbage barge. Another shootout shows men being hit by bullets, a car drives through glass walls while being shot at, the car tips over and slides, the passengers run through a tunnel being chased by exploding fuel lines and one large explosion sends them all careening to the ground. And another shootout between a group of men and two security guards leaves one man shot in the leg. A man is shoved out a bus door onto the ground where he is punched and kicked by several men, a man punches a man in the face, a man elbows a man in the face, a man grabs and shoves another man, a man punches a man in the face, a woman slaps a man in the face, and another man punches a man in the face. A man dangles from a concrete slab that slips and he jumps onto a crane line as it swings past just as the slab slips into water below. A man jumps through a window, lands on the roof of a truck, rolls off and lands on the ground. Two men hang from the back of a moving truck; the doors open and a man swings from one door, dangles from it over a bridge, swings back slamming into the other man, then crashes into a couple of street signs. Two men drive a car recklessly, slam into water-filled barrels, jump over a rise and crash through a port-a-potty (a man is inside and we see him sitting on the toilet). A man drives a car recklessly while being chased, nearly hitting other cars, a fork lift, he drives over the hoods of a bunch of cars and drives through a wall and onto a street. A woman grabs a man, holds him off the ground by the neck and throws him down. A man holds a man by the neck with a night stick and pushes him against a car; a bystander takes a video of the man swinging the night stick and stomping on the ground and it looks as if a man is being beaten (we see the video several times and we see a picture of the man later with a very swollen eye and face). A man is hit in the face by a car door and falls back into a large pile of garbage. A man threatens a young man in a car with a gun. A police academy training session shows a man firing his gun at several wooden standees of people with weapons. Another police academy training session shows two cars chasing each other through a street façade; one car crashes into wooden standees of civilians, then the car crashes through the wall of a building, goes after a man on foot, who's eventually knocked down with the door of the car. Then the driver gets out of the car, jumps on the man's back with his arm around his neck, shoves him on the ground and cuffs his hand to his foot. A man runs into a busy street trying to get a signal on a cell phone. A man drags his hand across his neck threatening to kill another man. A man talks about his partner having been shot in front of him. We see people grieving at a funeral. A man shoots a car that crashes into another car and explodes. A man suggests that certain actions will bring on a riot. People yell at and insult each other throughout the movie.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 3 sexual references, 22 scatological terms, 20 anatomical terms, 52 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory term for African-Americans, 1 derogatory term for police officers, 3 religious profanities, 3 religious exclamations.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Theft, smuggling, prison, police brutality, fabrication of facts, racism, the legal system, racial hatred and injustices, racial subjugation, inter-racial relationships, bravery.

MESSAGE - It's easier to get things done when you work as a team and not against each other.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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