Customer Reviews

National Security

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I wasn't expecting much from the film, "National Security," but what I got wasn't that great either.

This film revolves around a man (Martin Lawrence) who is trying to be a cop. He gets kicked out of the police academy and must resort to being a security guard. One day he comes face to face with a police officer (Steve Zahn) who accidently thinks Lawrence's character is breaking into a car. What happens next looks like a Rodney King beating, but really isn't. Zahn's character is sent to jail and when he gets out can only find a job as a security guard. Zahn's partner was also killed, so once he's out of jail, he's on a quest to find his partner's killer. Lawrence and Zahn then team up, under crazy circumstances, to find the killers and bring them to justice.

There are a few funny moments in the movie, but they are far and few between. Martin Lawrence's previous films, such as "Bad Boys" and "Nothing to Lose" were much better and funnier. I would have to agree with others when they say there were too many racial jokes throughout the film. Just about every sentence that came out of Martin's mouth had some sort of racial slur in it. After awhile it became very annoying.

Those who really enjoy Martin Lawrence's films may enjoy this movie, but I would suggest just leaving this one on the shelf and waiting for "Bad Boys 2" to come out this summer.

National Security is the perfect movie to see this year. I saw it the day it came out and I want to see it again. It stars one of the best comedians today (Martin Lawrence) and another funny misfit (Steve Zahn from SAVING SILVERMAN). The movie is funny yet has good action. Here is the plot.
Steve Zhan plays Hank. An LA policeman who is bent on revenge to finding the guy who killed his partner in gun battle. Lawrence is Earl. A guy who just got kicked out of the force after turning a practice session into a disaster. Plus Earl always thinks that people have a problem with him because he is black- not because of his attitude. One day while Earl is trying to have a regular day, he realizes he left his keys in his car and tried to stick his hand in and get it. Hank catches him and interrogates what is going on. While that is happening, a bee comes by and Earl is allergic to bees and so Hank tries to get the bee away but the way they were positioned, it looked like Hank was beating on Earl and a guy who near by got the whole thing on camera. Because of that, a huge commotion started thru out the state about a white cop beating a black civilian. Hank is fired from the police and sent to jail for 6 months and Earl just kicks back and lets the whole thing happen even though he knows it was a bee.
Hank serves his six months and after getting out he tries to do something similar toward police work- a job as a security guard. While on the job, Hanks gets called about a robbery and goes to check it out. It seems that the robbers were the guys he had an encounter with in the past and one of the guys was his partner's murderer. Hank goes into action right away and a fellow security guard who worked in the building comes to back up Hank and that person just happens to be Earl!! The two would've had a long argument but realized it wasn't the time and chased the bad guys but they were stopped by the police. Police that Hank kidnapped Earl for revenge but Earl decided not to have anything bad happen to Hank this time although it would have felt real good. Hank goes on to try find these guys who did the robbery because its personal and Earl thinks it is personal too because one them called him a monkey- and he thinks he was called that because he is black. Both Hank and Earl go on the case even though they are not policemen and along the way they go through many arguments that sometimes lead toward zany consequences like fighting over which to go on the street- right or left and they end up jumping the highway into a pile of portable toilets. Hank and Earl must try to put the past aside so they can help each other to try and find these bad guys.
National Security loaded with intense action, thrilling chase scenes, gun battles, fist fights, and many parts that will make you laugh hard. It's definitely as good as blue Steak and you should see it while it is still in theaters.

This is about a guy( Martin Lawrence), who accuses a cop( Steve Zahn) of beating him, so he can get on the police force, whn really he was just beating a bee that Martin Lawrences charactar was afraid of. So he goes to prison for 6 months, than they reunite, and have to stick together to take down some criminals. Good Film!

I was really amazed with the attitude of the character played by Martin Lawrence. It was absolutely racist to the point that the Lawrence character send an innocent cop to jail and that is supposed to be funny. His obsession about being black is showed during most of the scenes with special stress on his lack-of-brilliant conclusion to the white cop when he tells him that "being innocent in jail + your girlfriend dumped you + an underpaid job after that" means you're a black guy. Basically the simple action plot was just an excuse to portrait was the movie is about: A different version of racism, promoted by the black not-funny main character.

Maybe I am not the target audience of this movie!. At least it was a rental

Didn't like the first 10 minutes, but the rest of the movie we liked.
Loved Martin in Police academy, hilarious! Bumble bee incident and the chasing of the semi truck.

Martin ends up woking with Earl to go after the bad guys, but what do you know. The police get in the way of the pursuit. What a surprise.....NOT. Police are never in the right place at the right time, the movies are no different. Crooked cops do exist, not just in the movies.

Very funny... Not a rental but as a purchase..Love this movie.

If you are a cop lover, you won't like this movie.

Martin's comedy rocks! Martin's character and Earl made the movie for us.
Once again the bad guys got caught. See crime doesn't pay! Even if you are on the other side of the law.

While we may have been here before in terms of the action and story line (the reason for the four stars), I saw this movie in theaters and howled with laughter almost throughout the entire film. Including when I saw it again on DVD. Martin Lawrence plays LAPD reject and troublemaker Earl who gets L.A. cop Hank (played by Steve Zahn) kicked off the force for police brutality. These two guys end up working as security guards for the same company (named National Security). Then the two team up to halt a smuggling ring as well as try to uncover corrupt LA officials if they can stay one step ahead of the real police and not kill each other at the same time. I think the 'because I'm black'/victim mentality adds to the humor of Lawrence's character and Zahn is well cast as Lawrence's sidekick. Or is Lawrence Zahn's sidekick?
Anyway, I thought the added features with the alternate and deleted scenes were interesting. I also felt that the alternate ending (which is included in this special edition) should have made the final cut. Overall I enjoyed this movie. Its good slapstick fun packed with action.

Imagine a movie that throws every racist black joke cliche you could ever think about into an 88 minute movie. Then imagine that it is recycled every few minutes. National Security is a comedy that is not only unfunny, but is also unoriginal, full with cliches, and downright pointless.
The movie centers around Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence), a security officer, and Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) an ex-police officer who turns security officer after what seems to be a phony Rodney King type beating. Now, this is where the movie starts to go wrong. It takes the typical black/white man stereotype and turns it into a cop movie that dares to enter where no one has gone before- make consistent black jokes from a black guy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not using black in a derogatory way, but merely to point out that these "African-American" or so called black jokes are unfunny and dull.
Later, the two somehow stumble upon a plot to take a precious metal-alloy that will make a crooked cop and some other thiefs rich. By coincidence, this group is also responsible for Hank's partners death. Because of this, Hank goes to revenge his partner.
This movie could have been replaced with stick figures and I would have been just as delighted.

I was expecting something good out of National Security. Not groundbreaking, but somewhat entertaining. I was disappointed. This movie is totally over- done, and I have certainly seen the gags in it in other movies. Add to this non- stop profanity, sexual content and racism which more than warrants an R rating. I you are thinking about buying it, save your money and your taste for a good comedy. This movie [is bad], and should not be viewed.

In this goofy cop drama, Martin Lawrence plays Earl, a white-bashing, easily terrorized black man who sends Los Angeles cop Hank (Steve Zahn) to jail because of his hysterical and inaccurate testimony. When, six months later, the two find themselves unwittingly together as security guards protecting a warehouse during a heist, they team up to track down the bad guys. Lawrence is funny at first with his poor-oppressed-black-guy routine, but it gets tired - and even offensive - fast, mostly because Earl is such a buffoon; he seems too clownishly stupid to be much more than a stereotype. Hank is the straight man, and you can't help feeling sorry for him as he endures Earl's completely misguided riffs. Yeah, this film has some laughs, especially during the slapstick scenes, but they are either mild or mindless, fine as long as you don't expect uproarious comedy.

This film is definitely a rental, not a purchase. It is entertaining, humorous, but nothing you'll remember in a few days.

I did not hate this movie, but Martin's characters racial comments got on my last nerves, and I'm black!!!! I mean the cop was trying to hit a bee and it turned into police brutality case. There were some parts of the movie that made me chuckle, but I'm glad I did not see this one in theaters.