National
Security, directed by Dennis Dugan, is a comedy
about two private security guards in Los Angeles who work
for a company called National Security. The plot involves
the pursuit of smugglers, including a crooked cop. However,
the two security guards are an unlikely team. Earl Montgomery
(played by Martin Lawrence) is booted out of the Los Angeles
Police Department's Academy for attempting a reckless chase
as a part of his training. His partner, Hank Rafferty (played
by Steve Zahn), begins the film as a police officer whose
partner is killed while pursuing smugglers. However, one day
Rafferty stops Montgomery, who has locked himself out of his
car and is trying to reach the keys through a partially opened
window. While Rafferty tries to apprehend Montgomery, a bumblebee
suddenly appears. Since Montgomery claims to be highly allergic
to beestings, Rafferty uses his baton to try to kill the bee.
A third party videotapes Rafferty as he swings his baton,
while Montgomery is on the ground out of sight. With the videotape
and prevarication by Montgomery as evidence, Rafferty is convicted
of police brutality and sentenced to six months in prison,
all of which is spent in solitary confinement for fear that
black inmates will murder him in the general population. When
Rafferty gets out of prison, he becomes a security guard,
working for the same firm as Montgomery and assigned to the
same warehouse. Eventually, the duo succeeds in stopping the
smugglers, including the crooked cop. National
Security is not about plot, but rather is primarily
a vehicle for Montgomery to put down Rafferty for being a
white man, using black victimization rhetoric, while Rafferty
is frustrated that it is politically incorrect to berate Montgomery,
who is black. Thus, among the themes that are dramatized are
police brutality, racial profiling, and interracial dating.
Verbally, Montgomery is far more clever than Rafferty, but
his remarks may not be amusing to all filmviewers. Perhaps
the biggest laugh and most insightful comment comes when Montgomery
tells Rafferty that he is being treated as if he were black
because he lost his job, lost his girlfriend, went to prison,
and (after his release) is harassed by police. MH
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