Copshop

 Copshop is the latest in a series of tough, smartass action movies from Joe Carnahan. I tend to enjoy them, and this one wasn't an exception.

 Teddy Muretto (Frank Grillo, looking pretty sleazy in greasy long hair) is being pursued by parties unknown. Out of options and feeling trapped, he sucker-punches a cop at a casino parking-lot brawl to get arrested and put in a cell.
 Turns out he's a fixer-turned-informant for the FBI, and he's got a load of contract killers after his head. And then one of said himen (Gerald Butler) also gets himself arrested on purpose, and gets locked in a cell right in front of him.

 The police station is in the middle of nowhere, but there are still a lot of cops doing overtime that night. And that's a good thing, because the sleepy copshop is going to become a battlefield as another assassin (a very funny Toby Huss) comes after Muretto's head. Well, maybe there being a lot of cops doesn't end up being a good thing, not for the cops; it's a bloodbath. It all ends up with a survivor - Valerie (Alexis Louder), the cop Muretto punched at the parking lot - having to trust either a hitman or his crooked-as-hell target.

 It's a very Joe Carnahan premise, in other words. It plays out in unexpected ways, though, and although the twists aren't terribly clever, they stray far enough from the beaten path that it's pretty thrilling to see how things end up shaking out.
 Unfortunately the script loses it a bit by the end and things get a little too silly, but it's fine, the action is still good, and... well, it's not like the film ever pretended not to be ridiculous.

 Grillo is as likeable as ever, even in a man-bun, Butler's easy charisma is enjoyable, and Alexis Louder (as the one cop able to hold her own in the massacre) does a great job playing foil to the both of them. The dialog is fun, full of silly asides and your typical Carnahan smartarsery and bluster. The action is great, despite some obvious budget issues (I wish they would stop trying to do CGI fire with VoD budgets) and the movie even manages to wring some good suspense out of a few scenes, thanks in part to a pretty unpredictable script. It's not essential, but it's a good time.