I’ve seen a lot of police dramas in my day and most of them are serviceable. They are all more or less entertaining and keep me invested in them, but some are better than others. Reptile is the latest police/detective drama that I’ve seen and it’s better than most. It stars one of my all-time favorite actors, Benicio Del Toro, so that is the main reason for me to be very excited and invested in this film. 

Tom Nichols (Benicio Del Toro) is an average hard-nosed police detective in upstate New York. When he gets the call to investigate the murder of a young real estate agent things start to unravel in his life and in his work. There seems to be an underlying dark element that lingers in this town and among its people. The investigation leads in many directions but it’s hard for him to pinpoint who is the culprit and who is involved in it. 

The director, Grant Singer,  and co-writers De Toro and Benjamin Brewer create a film with a complicated story. It has many moving parts and various subplots that all come together in the end. The story is a main part of how this movie works. All good police or detective dramas have a good story and this one is not different from the others. It starts with a great family aspect but quickly starts to unravel. The detective aspects are well done as well.

Singer assembled a cast of usual suspects regarding these types of films with a few surprises. Justin Timberlake plays a shady real estate agent who was engaged to the dead woman. He plays the role pretty straightforwardly.  Alicia Silverstone, from Clueless, plays Judy, the wife of Del Toro’s characters and niece of Domenick Lombardozzi’s character of Wally. They all have a good relationship with each other at home during family gatherings and on the job. Eric Bogosian plays a police Captain who is friends with Tel Toro’s character but has a secret he’s keeping that plays into the main story.

There is also a group of creepy characters that serve as the main plot of the film. Suspects and various shady characters who keep getting involved with the investigation as well as people of interest regarding evidence and so forth. There is a big cast of actors in this movie and they all serve their roles. When you have a layered story like this one you need to have multiple suspects and plenty of people that can throw shade on the investigation.  Singer and company do an exceptional job of creating a deeply layered mystery.

Benicio Del Toro is an Academy Award-winning actor for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Traffic as a border patrol officer. He’s had terrific roles in The Usual Suspects, 21 Grams, and Sicario. His career has been vast and he’s played a lot of different types of characters. He worked with many different directors in his career as well. His role in Reptile might be one of the better ones in his career. He seemed fit to play this grizzled veteran detective at this point in his career. He played some good guys before but this might be the best of the lot for him. He uses every skill he’s acquired in his career to be a leader on a film set this is who he is these days. He’s that respected guy. He deserves it.

Reptile has a very good dense story with many layers to it. What is seen on the surface isn’t exactly what’s going on at the end of the film. The director/writer Singer creates one of the best police/detective stories I’ve seen in recent years. Del Toro does his usual as the leach character a veteran police detective and the supporting cast is varied and well-written as well. The mystery takes a little while to unfold but the end is worth the wait. This is a film that will make it worth your time to see it. And Singer is a director/writer to watch going forward. 

The Film Airs on Netflix September 29th 2023

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen